Can't Swim
by sarky soomka
Summary: Stiles and his daughter are going to spend the summer at the pool. His summer instantly gets a lot hotter when his new neighbors move in next door and start hanging out by the water too. The two dads bond over light beers while the kids use the slip and slide and eat popsicles. Stiles tries not to blatantly drool at Derek's perfect body in his swim shorts. Sterek
1. Chapter 1

**Can't Swim**

_A/n: So this is my **first** Sterek story! I'm really excited. A little nervous that it's going to crash and burn, but not dwelling on the anxiety aspect much and just having fun. I've just gotten into the Teen Wolf fandom within the last few months and I just can't seem to read anything else. I'm writing other stories, HP, and I _should _be writing those and appeasing the fans, but alas, curiosity and new-found obsessions take the priority._

_We'll see how this goes! Feedback and comments highly encouraged and recommended hehe ;)_

_Enjoy!_

**Chapter One:**

"Dad, I don't like green beans! They're gross!" Erica complained, crossing her arms in a huff.

"You haven't even tried them yet!" Stiles tried to argue, but knew it was more than likely a losing battle. She was just a little girl with no real qualms about vegetables yet, probably just turned off by the color green. Of course she wouldn't try _everything_ he cooked for her, but she didn't know what she was missing! Green beans were _not _scary. About as terrifying as potatoes.

"I have!" Erica insisted, trying her best to sound convincing. Like this was her final statement, that Stiles should drop the subject.

"Is that so?" Stiles raised an eyebrow, trying to get his daughter to elaborate, taking a bite of his delicious chicken cordon bleu.

"Yeah, at the school once!"

There was the problem! As if trying the cafeteria slop once qualified as eating real green beans. They were probably made from ten pound bag of frozen beans pulled out from the back of the freezer with the ice scraped off, the lunch ladies desperate to use them up by the end of the school year. They only had a few days left until summer vacation.

"Hmm, I bet they were terrible!" Stiles laughed, hoping that he didn't ruin his daughter and turn her into one of those girls "above" eating cafeteria food from time to time. A lot of it was actually not half bad, and besides, it was a part of growing up and she _had _to eat it a few times to get through life with a bit of experience. But she was only in the first grade, he was getting a little ahead of himself.

"They were. I hate green beans." She took a bite of her chicken, unbeknownst that it was filled with ham and cheese. She supposedly_ hated_ ham. Her face didn't show pure disgust when she chewed the chicken with ham, though. In fact, it looked like she was enjoying it!

"I think you should try mine. I make them good." And he did. He was an excellent vegetable maker. Cookies and cupcakes all that fun stuff, not so much. But that's what her mother was for. "Just try a little bit. Pretend like you're on Fear Factor."

"Fine." She begrudgingly stabbed a bean with her fork and raised it to her mouth, looking like she was about to eat dog shit. She' probably _rather _eat dog shit than humor her father.

"And...?" He encouraged, looking smug. He could tell she wasn't put off.

"They're...okay." As if she'd actually admit to liking them. She swallowed and Stiles could tell she wanted another bite, but wasn't going to give her father the satisfaction while he scrutinized.

"I knew you'd like them!" He exclaimed jovially. "Try to eat a few more."

"We'll see." She tried to sound reluctant, but Stiles knew better. All it took was a little push. Maybe next week they'd try brussel sprouts! But then again, Stiles didn't even like those. Basically old people food.

"Honey, it's the last day of school. Of course you have to go!" Stiles shook his head, not in the mood for this. He had to get to work, he didn't have time for a temper tantrum.

"But, I wanna go to the pool!" Erica whined, clearly not seeing straight.

"Well so do I, but you have to do one more day of school first. Mom will be here when you get home to watch you, and then _tomorrow _I'll take you to the pool." He sighed, wishing Lydia would take Erica more often. Not that he didn't love spending time with his daughter, he just needed a little more help sometimes.

"Fine." She grabbed her backpack and stalked away towards the car, waiting for Stiles to drive her down the street to the school.

"You should be excited! It's the last day. We'll have the whole summer to go to the pool and eat popsicles and wear pajamas all the time. And no homework." He tried to cheer her up, knowing he was going to have to go to get a super sized box of popsicles.

"And can we sleep in?" Erica asked, looking hopeful.

"Of course!" Like he was going to make her wake up early in _the_ _summer_?

"Are you going to take the summer off work?"

"I wish, sweetie. But Allison said she'd babysit and of course, you'll see Mom too." He wished he could take the summers off work. But, unfortunately he was not a teacher. He actually had to go into the office most days out of the week. Since he worked at his uncle's company with a few of his other relatives as well, he'd still have a job if he had to leave early or take a day or two off. That kind of stuff probably wouldn't fly at another office, but family let things slide.

Lydia, Erica's mom, wasn't around all that much. Not that she was a distant, neglectful mother, she just had a job that required her to look fabulous all the time and travel. A lot. Stiles and Lydia never married, which was probably for the best.

One night right out of high school, Scott his best friend, had a party. Everyone was an amateur drinker, not having been to many parties, if any, and naturally proceeded to get wasted. Like regretfully smashed. Stiles, who isn't even sexually attracted to women, and Lydia managed to get it on and as nature would have it, get pregnant. They decided to keep the baby, but weren't going to get married just because it would have been "the right thing to do." Everyone knew Stiles was gay and it shocked everyone to find out he was going to be a father. Having a child so young wasn't really his ideal way to take his life, but he wouldn't change it for the world.

It was then that he noticed his new neighbors moving in next door. He'd seen cars coming and going from the driveway all week, but today the moving van made an appearance. And by the looks of a few visible boxes marked "toys," they had a kid. Hopefully they'd be around Erica's age. She could use a friend in the neighborhood. Especially one that lived right next door. Maybe even the parent's would be cool.

And that's when he saw the dad. At least he hoped he was the dad. He was already out of the driveway, if he stopped the car now to look it'd be obvious, but he could tell plain as day that this guy was _hot. _Like male model for Gucci hot. Like too smoking to be a real person. At least from the back. Because he disappeared into the back of the moving van before Stiles ever got a chance to see his face. But if it looked anything like his ass, then Stiles was in trouble. He seriously hoped this guy was the one moving in.

Later on that day, after Stiles stopped at the store, he noticed the moving van was gone. In it's place was a sexy black Camero, the kind that only a hunky hologram would drive. He knew it had to be the hottie's. Wishing peeping through a strangers windows wasn't frowned upon, he hurried up into the house before he did something he'd regret. Like grabbing his binoculars from the garage to catch a peek at the mystery babe.

Lydia planned to drop Erica back off later this evening, after dinner. She had to travel to Denver in the morning, she'd be gone for nearly a week. Stiles could tell Erica missed her mom when she left, but she never complained. Throwing the groceries into the frig, he grabbed a beer from the door and went to sit on the couch, consciously opening the blinds a little to have the neighbors house in view. Not that he was planning on staring through them, but he wanted to be able to catch a quick peek if the opportunity arose. Besides, all neighbors were nosy. It was just a fact of life.

The neighbors didn't have their own blinds open so Stiles really couldn't see jack shit. Getting up to close his own blinds, he saw nothing. He could tell their lights were on, but that was it. How lame!

"Are you ready for the pool, honey?" Stiles asked, throwing her swimsuit onto her bed. He already had a bag packed full of sunscreen, arm floaties and a miniature inner tube. And he nearly forgot towels. "Put that on and I'll be right back."

"Okay, daddy!" She squealed, tossing off her nightgown.

They walked to the neighborhood pool, it was just down the street a little bit. Would be completely pointless to drive unless they lived on the other side of the subdivision. They arrived early so not too many families had snagged the good spots yet. Tossing his bag down by a white chaise lounge, he grabbed his daughter and started to put on her sunblock. Getting her settled into the shallow end of the pool, she started to play with the other kids. He'd get in the water later. Probably.

And that's when he saw him. The neighbor. And he was putting his stuff down right next to Stiles' area.

"Hey." He greeted, in a pleasant tone. Oh my god, this guy was going to be the death of him. Stiles had never seen a man so attractive in real life.

"Hi!" Stiles managed to choke out, trying not to look like he had to use the bathroom.

Stiles noticed the dude had a son about Erica's age. He tried not to stare at the man's perfect arms as he applied sunscreen to his boys back.

"I'll be right here watching. Have fun!" The man smiled at his sun, watching him run off into the water with the other kids. He looked a little nervous, probably just shy, but immediately the other kids welcomed them to their game.

"Cute kid." Stiles said absentmindedly.

"Oh, thanks. Which one's yours?" The guy asked, looking into the crowd of youngins.

"Erica, she's the little blonde girl with the purple suit." He pointed, waving at his daughter. She grinned and turned around, too involved with the beach ball that another girl had brought to care about her dad.

"Adorable." The guy smiled.

Stiles tried not to die, and pulled out his magazine just to look like he had something else to do instead of gawk.

"I'm Stiles." So much for that plan. He had no control over himself.

"Derek." He smiled, offering his hand. Stiles took it and, oh my god, his hand felt amazing.

He was doomed.


	2. Chapter 2

**Can't Swim**

_A/n: Like I said before, this is my first Sterek story, so I'm a little nervous at how I'll execute it! Hope I don't turn it into garbage hahaha. Hope you like it! Let me know whatcha think :-)_

**Chapter Two:**

"Yeah, I couldn't unpack another box this morning. When I told Isaac the sub had a pool, he went straight for the box with his bathing suit in it and put it on. How the hell he knew where it was is beyond me!" Derek explained, turning his head to look at Stiles as he spoke, his body still angled towards the children.

"I don't blame you. Moving is exhausting, I'm sure laying by a kid filled pool right now is totally welcomed." Stiles laughed, trying not to say anything too ridiculously weird.

"Oh yeah." Derek replied, turning his head away from Stiles.

The hottie dad had on dark sunglasses covering his eyes, much to Stiles' chagrin. But Stiles could assume they were gorgeous underneath. No man with a body that divine could have ugly, face ruining eyes. He noticed that Derek wasn't wearing a swimsuit, probably in a mystery location buried in a box, but at least he had on shorts. Stiles tried not to stare and admire the way his shorts exposed healthy looking calves and the way his manly, dark leg hair matted from crossing his legs. His feet weren't creepy either. In fact, his feet were pretty darn nice. For a man. Men didn't always have the cutest feet. It looked like he kept his toenails maintained, too. And okay, Stiles really needed to stop being such a freaking _weirdo _and watch his daughter before he got caught feasting his eyes.

"Hey dad, look how long I can hold my breath!" Derek's son Isaac called out. Derek immediately sat up, turning his face into an expression of pure interest and asked Isaac to demonstrate.

Isaac popped down into the water and the two men waited. A few seconds later the little blond boy bobbed up out of the water, beaming. "Did you see! Did you count!"

"Twelve seconds!" Derek threw out, resulting in a satisfied grin from his son.

"That's a new record!" Isaac whooped, twirling around to share the news with the rest of the kids.

"Wow." Derek tried not to roll his eyes. At least Stiles assumed that's what happened by the way he spoke, considering he couldn't actually see the man's eyes.

He watched his daughter get out of the water and walk towards him. "Whats up sweetheart?"

"Dad, I'm thirsty." She declared, eying the beach bag Stiles brought.

"I'll get your Gatorade." Stiles leaned over to his bag and produced a miniature blue Gatorade and unscrewed the cap.

"This is my daughter, Erica." Stiles said to Derek, hoping they might become neighborly and even friends. And maybe they'd even make out a little bit one day.

"Hi there! I'm Derek, we just moved in next door to you and your dad." Derek smiled, flashing his perfect white teeth.

"Cool." Erica took a big gulp of her beverage, already sporting a blue ring around her lips. How kids managed to get so messy so quick was beyond him.

Suddenly, Derek was removing the sunglasses and putting them on the top of his head. Over his gorgeous black, gelled hair. Stiles didn't think he could take it. Those green eyes were simply stunning. He never even dreamt that a pair of eyes could look so beautiful. Quickly glancing at his crotch, he noticed he was still safe. No boner. Yet. Thank god!

He needed to seriously get a grip and get over himself. He doubted the man was even gay. He probably had a breathtaking beauty of a wife stashed away somewhere that Stiles couldn't see, ready to emerge from the shadows the minute Stiles mustered up the courage to flirt.

"Isaac can hold his breath the longest of all the others." Erica gushed, thrusting her juice back into Stiles' hands, hinting for him to put the cap back on.

"Wow, that's amazing." Derek nodded, like he didn't know how to speak to children.

"Yeah. Okay, bye!" Erica shrugged her shoulders and headed back.

"Do you want a Gatorade? I brought way too many." Stiles offered, glancing at Derek, trying to be friendly. And not obvious about his new crush.

"Uhh...sure. Why not?" Derek shrugged. What did he have to lose?

"Blue or red?" Stiles asked, not even sure what the flavors were. Everyone knew them by color anyway.

"Red." Stiles beamed on the inside. Red was his favorite too. At least when it came to choosing between blue or red. He actually preferred yellow. They didn't make it in the mini Gatorade's though. At least he never saw them before.

"Good choice." He laughed, tossing the bottle over. He nearly twisted the top off for him, so used to helping Erica, but stopped himself just before he pulled a Dad move. He was pretty sure Derek had the capability to open it himself.

-000000-

Derek never took his shirt off. Needless to say, Stiles was very relieved. Stupidly disappointed that he didn't get to see any abs, but very relieved. He didn't think his dick could handle it. Derek and Isaac left the pool first, which Stiles really wanted to follow suit and go home too, but he didn't want to look like a clinger. Besides, if they were neighbors then Stiles really didn't have to worry about never seeing him again. It was probably a good idea to let his dick calm down anyway.

Stiles made macaroni and cheese with hot dogs for dinner, Erica's favorite, in honor of the start of summer. Snuggling onto the couch with a light blanket, he turned on The Secret Garden, eager to watch a movie with his daughter. This was _his _favorite children's movie. That Maggie Smith lady, what a bitch. He loved it.

"How did you like the new neighbor boy?" Stiles asked, hoping the kids got along. Of course not for selfish reasons! Like he'd try to force the kids to get along so he could be in cahoots with Derek. He wouldn't dream of it. Or so he liked to tell himself. Those kids were going to be friends, god damn it.

"Isaac? He's pretty nice." Erica shrugged, engrossed in the movie. Mary Lennox had just found the garden!

"That's good, maybe you guys can play together this summer." Stiles suggested.

"Yeah, we probably will. He's new, he'll need a friend." Erica smiled.

Stiles was proud of his daughter, glad to know she realized that it was nice to extend herself to make the new boy feel welcome.

-0000-

"What do you want to do today, honey?" Stiles asked, leaning casually against the doorway of his daughter's room.

"The pool!" Erica squealed, the novelty having not worn off after one day. He should have known. He probably should have gotten the pool bag packed before even asking her.

"Okay, let's get ready."

About a half hour later Stiles was situated with his Food and Wine magazine, not his personal favorite, but he found it in the bathroom and beggars really couldn't be choosers, when he saw that Derek and Isaac were making their way through the pool gate.

Stiles smiled, hoping that Derek took the spot next to his lounge chair again like yesterday. And to his delight, he did. "Hey man." Stiles greeted, watching Derek put his bag down and take his dorky brown sandals off.

"How's it going?" Derek asked, pulling his son closer to smear the sunblock on. "Stop squirming."

"Eh, fine. Just a little bored!" Stiles laughed, hoping he didn't sound like an asshole.

"Maybe you should get in the water." Derek motioned towards the deeper end. The six foot side. For the pro swimmers only.

"Ha! I'll think about it." Stiles noticed that Derek had his swim trunks on today. Plain old faded black ones that looked a few years old. This pleased Stiles to know that he didn't wear fancy swimwear.

"Dad, are you going to swim today?" Isaac asked, putting on his arm floaties.

"I might! I'm wearing the suit aren't I?" Derek gestured to his bottoms, and Stiles tried not to examine the shape of his crotch.

"Okay!" Isaac smiled, sauntering over to wear Erica was playing in her inner tube.

Derek peeled off his shirt, apparently ready to work on his tan. Stiles noticed he already had a bit of color going, figuring he was probably just naturally not ghost white, and that the hair on his chest was perfect. Not too much that he looked like he had on a sweater vest, but more than a teenage boy. Like the normal, not gross amount. The sexy amount. Stiles tried not to feel inadequate about his own pasty skin and freckles all over his hairless chest. Well actually, he had like a tiny patch of hairs in between his pecks. That you could see if you really got close enough.

"I'm glad that the neighborhood's full of kids Isaac's age." Derek mused, staring off into the distance.

"Yeah, it is nice. Erica said she'd play with Isaac. She said, '_he's new he'll need a friend._'" Stiles replied absentmindedly, the sun was really hot today.

"That's so cute." Derek smiled, watching Erica and Isaac splashed each other.

"She's a sweetheart. A little tough on the outside sometimes, but she's definitely a sweetie." Stiles loved to talk about his daughter. Who didn't?

"Same with Isaac. Well, he doesn't act tough, he's mostly shy, but he's a great boy."

They sat in silence for a while, just soaking up the sun and watching their kids. Then Derek decided he needed to get wet and Stiles nearly choked on his own saliva. This guy was a freaking deity. With his broad shoulders and muscular forearms, Stiles couldn't help but ogle him in the water. Luckily, he was busy wrapped up with tossing Isaac around to notice his skinny stalker. Well maybe he wasn't a stalker per se, but he sure felt like one. Or a pervert. Or something just as wrong.

Watching the water pellets drip down his back as he exited the pool didn't help anything either. Derek toweled off his hair making it messy, and Stiles wiped his mouth just in case drool had started to drip. So far so good.

This man needed to come over a barbeque. Maybe next weekend he'd have the courage to ask him.


	3. Chapter 3

**Can't Swim**

_A/n: Hey thanks for the follows and the comments and all the love! Glad you guys are liking this so far! Just for the record, I don't really know many children, not many at all, so I hope I don't write them too unrealistic. Lol. We'll see what happens! I have a basic idea of where I want to take this story, but any ideas or suggestions will be appreciated and considered! :-)_

_Also in regards to my updating schedule...I'm going to try my hardest to not take forever. I tend to be a person who does things in spurts, so hopefully I can stay on this story kick long enough to actually get chapters up within a reasonable time. It's safe to say that I'm really into this right now, so chances of frequent updates look good._

_Enjoy!_

**Chapter Two:**

Stiles was glad for a week of boring work. Not that he didn't want to lay around at home all week with his daughter and get sunburned at the pool, but he had urges to control. And he couldn't keep those in line unless he got to escape during the day. It wasn't like taping his dick down as a precautionary next time he went to the pool was a viable option! However, who was he kidding? If he could take the whole summer off work he would. And still keep Allison as the babysitter, of course. He needed _some_ time alone with Derek in this fantasy. He imagined them holed up in Derek's house with their wet bathing suits on...and okay, no. Wet bathing suits were horrific. Why would he even go there? They'd be wearing only _shorts, _the shirtless thing was a given, while Allison took care of Erica and Isaac next door at his house. And she wouldn't call to disrupt their sexy time unless it was a life or death emergency, and she wouldn't let anyone walk in on them all sweaty and-

Fuck. _Why _did his fantasies always have to involve an interruption? Couldn't he just have one daydream about his hunky neighbor in peace? Answering his conveniently ringing phone hastily, he hoped he didn't scare whoever was on the other line.

"Stiles? Hey, it's me." Ugh, Allison. Speak of the devil. That bitch!

He immediately felt bad for thinking of her as an annoyance. She was a saint. A gorgeous woman who was, in fact, the total opposite of a bitch. Scott was a lucky bastard to have her for a fiancee. Allison was starting her first year of teaching in the fall so she didn't have much else to do during the summer, therefore able to keep an eye on Erica quite a bit. Plus, it gave her a little more practice dealing with mini people.

"What's up?" He asked, trying to keep cool and segue into a normal conversation after abruptly leaving fantasy land.

"So we're going out for ice cream, but then I remembered something about a nut allergy..." She trailed off, probably distracted by Erica in the background.

"Oh yeah. No, that was just a little false alarm. Nuts are safe. Let her get peanut butter if she wants." Stiles laughed, appreciating the fact that Allison thought to double check.

"Okay cool! Just wanted to make sure. Isaac don't take that seat belt off!" Allison warned, obviously already in the car. Wait, did she say _Isaac_?

"Isaac's with you?" Stiles asked out loud, bewildered.

"Yeah! He's so cute. Erica went over to ask him to play a few hours ago. I asked his dad, he said it was fine if he went with us." Allison reassured him, reading his mind about confirming with Derek. "Well, they're getting antsy! I'll see you later, bud."

"Have fun!"

Stiles hoped Derek didn't have a nut allergy. At least not to Stiles' nuts. He could careless if the man was able to eat cashews or not.

-000000-

"Daddy, we got you a surprise!" Erica shouted from the kitchen, right on cue, as Stiles came through the garage door.

"What is it?" He asked, tossing his wallet and keys onto the counter.

"Look in the freezer!" Erica and Isaac were too busy building a Lego structure on the living room floor to actually get up and show him the surprise. He'd have to search on his own! What a hassle!

"She couldn't resist." Allison smiled, getting up from the kitchen table probably to head home.

Stiles saw a little to-go ice cream cup labeled "Daddy" with a backwards Y. He took off the lid to see it was his favorite flavor from the ice cream shop down the street. He didn't remember what the flavor was called, but it tasted like weak chocolate. Like if you poured Hershey's syrup into vanilla and stirred it all up. Or like low-fat chocolate milk. Something like that. It was awesome!

"Thanks sweetie!" He called to his kid, over the moon she thought of him, thanking Allison for paying. Putting the treat back into the freezer to wolf down later, he went over to Allison.

"Well, I've gotta head home in a sec. Scott's making pasta and I hope it isn't a total disaster!" She laughed, grabbing her purse.

"Yeah, he shouldn't be allowed in the kitchen. Thanks for watching Erica. And for letting Isaac hang around."

"Are you kidding? He's my cousin!" Allison giggled, that statement totally coming from out of nowhere. She didn't appear to feel the need to elaborate. As if Stiles already knew.

"_What?_ No way. Are you sure?" Stiles needed a little bit more information. He stared at her with his eyes wide waiting for her to continue. She _knew _Isaac? Was she planning on _not _mentioning this? Like hello, this is breaking news!

"Yeah, I had no idea Derek and Isaac moved next door to you! What a small world. My aunt Kate is Derek's ex-wife."

"No kidding! So he's not married anymore?" Stiles nodded his head in consideration, hoping that Allison didn't catch on that he got a little more excited than necessary about his neighbor being a single man.

"Nope. My aunt Kate's got a few...issues...so they're definitely divorced. Well, I'll see you later. Bye guys!" She called over to the kids on the floor. They cried out their goodbyes in unison and turned back to constructing their Lego multicolored mansion.

So Derek is divorced, eh? Not a problem! He wondered what sort of "issues" Kate had, but put that thought on the back burner. Wasn't his concern at the moment.

"Have fun today, guys?" Stiles asked the two, plopping down onto the couch. He had all the room for himself. Turning on the television, he saw that How to Train Your Dragon was on Disney. Score! He didn't even need to change the channel. He figured if he was going to have to watch TV with kids in the room, it had better be something worthwhile like a dragon movie or Batman. But alas, he had a daughter. So superheroes usually weren't featured on the screen.

"Yeah, Allison took us for ice cream and it was great!" Erica raved, placing a little Lego guy in his 'bedroom.'

He heard the doorbell ring, which came as a shock. Who the hell would be coming over? He reluctantly got up from his comfortable, well worn couch to answer the door. He didn't even bother looking through the peephole. He'd take his chances.

"Hey." Derek greeted awkwardly.

He was on his front porch. The man of his wet dreams was standing on his porch wearing red basketball shorts and a semi-clean white t-shirt. With a v-neck. Men who liked other men only wore v-necks, right? He knew Scott didn't wear v-necks. His chances were looking higher. And okay, he was being a total stereotypical douche and needed to stop...and oh my god, _say_ something to him!

"Uhh...hi!" Stiles choked out, mentally berating himself. "Come in!" He stepped aside, waving his hand to invite Derek in.

"Isaac's here I hope!" Derek laughed, stepping over the threshold.

"I'm pretty sure!" Stiles laughed nervously, trying not to sound like a molester.

"If not that's cool, I've had enough of him, I can get another." Derek shrugged, chuckling to himself.

"I'm sure they're over here somewhere." Stiles directed him towards the living room where the kids were situated. Stiles' house had an open floor plan so he and Derek could sit at the dining room table and talk while the kids played Mario Kart.

"Dad, hi!" Isaac beamed, immediately turning back to focus on his race. He and Erica were neck and neck, going back and forth between second and third place.

Derek waved, making his way to stand hesitantly against the kitchen counter.

"Hope he wasn't too much trouble." Derek admitted, glancing towards his son.

"For me, not at all. I just got home from work like fifteen minutes ago." Stiles shrugged, walking over towards the fridge. "You want something to drink?"

"Nah, I'm all right. Thanks." He smiled. That smile was going to put Stiles upstairs in his room, away from anyone who might see him and his pants. It did unspeakable things to his libido. Derek had such a...happy person smile. It looked like he genuinely smiled so much that he was going to have some major crow's feet in the future. It was a gorgeous look on him. But Stiles was sure _any _facial expression was a gorgeous look on the man. Probably even looked good when he was scowling.

"So I hear you guys already knew Allison?" Stiles mentioned nonchalantly, grabbing the bottle of coke for himself. He waved the two liter in front of Derek silently offering again even though he already declined. Predictably, the man shook his head.

"Ha, yeah that was definitely a surprise! She's related to my ex-wife." Derek clarified, fiddling with the hem of his shirt. "She came by to say hello once she realized that her little cousin Isaac was playing with Erica. I felt kinda bad dumping him on her, but she insisted. Not that he's a handful or anything, but it was a huge help having him out of my hair for a few hours."

"Yeah, I bet! It's hard to get anything done when they're always spilling things and scraping their knees. Do you know how many tubes of Neosporin I go through?" Stiles laughed, grabbing a tin of almonds out of the pantry. For a good laugh that he'd need to keep to himself, he offered some to Derek.

And thank god, Derek was _not _allergic to nuts. He took a small handful and popped one into his mouth eagerly. "Thanks," he said while chewing. Next he'd just need to figure out if Derek could stand cock and balls.

"For sure. I basically got the whole kitchen unpacked, it was great. I had my music on full blast, nobody to tell me it was annoying and too loud. But now I've come to collect the little guy for dinner." Derek left his spot against the counter and walked closer to the kids. "You almost ready to go, dude?"

He calls his son Dude. That might be the cutest thing he'd heard all week. Stiles absently wondered what sort of music Derek enjoyed. He looked like a rocker, hopefully. Stiles just hoped he didn't like crap.

"Yeah, we're almost done!" Isaac assured his father. Stiles didn't bother to mention that they were playing the Grand Prix and only on race two out of four.

"Hey, what are you guys doing on Saturday?" Stiles asked before he even really had a chance to gather his thoughts.

"Probably just more house set up!" Derek shrugged, plopping down on the couch to watch the video game.

"I was thinking of grilling, you guys wanna come over? Like cheap hot dogs for the kids and I could get something good for us like...I dunno barbequed chicken or steaks or something." Stiles babbled, hoping steaks didn't sound like 'date food.' Because really, steaks were fucking amazing and no one in their right mind would say no. Unless they were vegetarian. Fuck. What if Derek was a leaf eater and he was insulted by the thought of a big juicy hunk of meat?

"You're not vegetarian are you?" Stiles laughed nervously, already regretting his invitation.

Derek snorted and chuckled loudly, eying Stiles in disbelief. "Really? Do I look like a vegetarian?"

"Well no, not particularly..."

"I sure hope not. You look closer to vegetarian than I do!" Derek cackled, looking at Stiles' body.

"Hey! Is that a crack on my weight? Okay, maybe I am a little...lithe...but I definitely can pack away quite a bit of meat!" Stiles folded his arms defensively laughing at the same time, hoping Derek didn't think he was talking about his blow-job abilities when he said he was able to take a lot of meat. Actually, Stiles was pretty sure he was the only one with his mind in the gutter. He really needed to get a grip!

"Lithe? Maybe more like...lanky." Derek laughed, again with that show stopping smile.

"Well at least you didn't say gangly." Stiles chuckled, noticing that Derek hadn't given his answer about attending the grill night.

"Well, that too." He smirked. And if Stiles wasn't mistaken, he could have sworn Derek was checking him out!

"I'm sorry, we can't all be brawny, hardy men like you!" Stiles tried to sound offended, but to no avail.

Derek threw his head back in delight, repeating the term 'brawny' in bemusement like he hadn't heard the word in years. "Isaac, I didn't say you could play another race!" Derek suddenly realized that Erica and his son were trying to wangle their way into playing another round without the parents noticing. Isaac sighed in defeat, not going to put up a fight right now. The boy got up from the floor to get himself ready to go.

The two guys wrapped it up fairly quickly, both just having worn sandals. Erica told Isaac she'd see him tomorrow and ran back to the living room to watch TV. Stiles felt his heart sink when Derek started walking out the door, wishing the man would just snuggle with him on the couch right now.

"Oh and Stiles? Saturday sounds really great. Can I bring anything?" Derek called over his shoulder. Stiles didn't even bother to suppress his fervor, letting Derek know he could bring anything he wanted but didn't need to feel obligated, that he had it covered.

"Beer?" Derek shrugged, hoping that Stiles drank the stuff.

"Yes please!" Stiles grinned, waving goodbye to the sex machine.

Stiles could hardly believe his luck. He could hardly believe how attractive a man could be while wearing basketball shorts. He didn't usually go for those. But somehow Derek looked like he could wear them to a formal gathering and get away with it. His face was just that good.

Smiling to himself about the way he could've sworn Derek was flirting with him, he sauntered back to the kitchen to fix something to eat for his own family dinner. Stiles was very thankful that today was only Thursday so he had a few days to mentally prepare himself for Saturday's dinner. Even so, he already knew he was going to splurge and get the ribeyes.


	4. Chapter 4

**Can't Swim**

_A/n: You guys are amazing!_

**Chapter Four:**

"Dude no, I'm not going to make a move on him tomorrow!" Stiles couldn't believe that Scott would insinuate such a preposterous idea!

"You should. Be like, 'Oh Derek, the kids will be fine for half an hour. Let's go upstairs and take our pants off and I'll make you-'" Scott joked, using a high pitched voice that sounded _nothing _like an impression of Stiles. Unless he _did_ sound like he sucked gobs of helium everyday! Although plausible, he highly doubted it. Scott probably would have carried on for a good few minutes if Stiles hadn't stopped him.

"Oh my god, no! Shut it! I barely know the guy! He probably thinks I'm creepy enough just inviting him over." Nobody could even see Stiles, but he was beyond mortified. He probably sported a blushing face bright enough to rival the red m&m. He knew he shouldn't have told Scott about his neighbors!

"And then you guys'll sneak down to the pool after the kids go to bed and go skinny dipping!" Scott couldn't control his laughter. Usually Stiles had the outlandish ideas and schemes, so this was a little out of character for his best friend. Not so unusual that he'd consider institutionalizing him, but strange all the same.

"Yeah, I don't think so." Stiles shook his head despite knowing that he was alone an no one could see. Also thankful that no one could see him pick his wedgie.

"I think I've met him before, actually." Scott announced proudly, pondering his statement for a second. "Yeah, like a few years ago. Allison's family had some kind of party and I'm pretty sure he was there."

"You met a sex god and you didn't tell me about him! Shame on you!" Stiles laughed, feigning outrage.

"Ha ha, he didn't look available at the time. He was with a woman." Stiles groaned.

"His ex-wife?" Now that Scott had piqued his interest, he felt a little less weird. A normal conversation about Derek was just what he needed, not Scott telling him to ravish the man in the yard where all the rest of the neighbors could see. He liked to do his fantasizing _by himself._ Where he didn't feel uncomfortable. With no input from Scott whatsoever.

"I guess. Yeah. Allison's aunt. She was pretty hot now that I think about it." He pictured Scott looking off into the distance, remembering the beauty that is Kate. Allison probably would smack him.

"Well, that's just great." Stiles knew she was hot. How could a guy like Derek have anything less than jaw-dropping? He needed to see a picture, just for curiosities sake.

"Yeah, but Allison said she was crazy. Like, you won't have to worry about Derek getting back together with her." Scott continued.

"What kind of crazy?" Crazy meant a lot of things. She could have been a murderer, or just a total psycho bitch with a who yells a lot, or a diehard republican, or like...an animal hater! The list went on and on.

"I don't know for sure. She's like schizo or something. You'll have to find out from him." Ohhhhh. He meant like _crazy _crazy. Like a huge mental case. Great.

"Who's schizophrenic?" He heard Allison ask in the background, probably just walking into the room. "Oh my god, are you talking about my aunt? Put him on speaker."

"Hi Allison." Stiles greeted sheepishly when he heard the rustling of the phone.

"Why are you talking about her?" Allison demanded, clearly not on the same page.

"We really weren't, she just kinda came up." Stiles tried to clarify.

"Yeah, we were mostly just talking about Derek." Scott wasn't helping. Allison didn't need to find out about his crush!

"Oh my god, do you _like _him?" She always knew! Gosh, like what kind of sixth sense did she have? How could she even make that assumption from nothing. For all she knew they were just casually talking about Stiles' new neighbors that happened to be somewhat related to Allison. Nowhere did that insinuate he had a hankering for Derek's dick.

"Why would you even think that?" Stiles tried to sound insulted.

"C'mon, really Stiles?" She wasn't dumb.

"Ugh okay, maybe I have a teeny little thing for him. I mean, you have to admit he is _fine. _Can you really blame me?" Stiles tried to sound like it wasn't that big of a deal.

"I'll give you that. He's pretty gorgeous." She laughed, thankfully not judging Stiles too badly.

"Don't tell anyone!" Stiles begged, knowing she wouldn't, but needed to state it anyway.

"So I guess I shouldn't send this text? _Derek, Stiles your creepy neighbor wants your body. Beware." _That girl sure knew how to push his buttons. He knew she was just being facetious, however he couldn't help but shriek just in case she _was _for real.

"Oh my god, no! Don't you dare!" He'd never be able to leave his house again!

"Jeez, relax. I don't even have his phone number!" Allison cackled, probably close to rolling on the floor. He wished he were there to double check her phone to make sure she was telling the truth.

"He probably knows anyway. Stiles invited him over for dinner tomorrow." Scott supplied nonchalantly.

"Oooh, how romantic." Allison cooed. That snot.

"You guys are the worst. I'm hanging up now." Stiles had heard enough mocking for one evening. Lydia had returned from her business trip last night and had taken Erica this morning. She was actually spending the night at her mom's, so Stiles had the house to himself. He could dance around in his underwear like Risky Business for all he wanted or say shit and fuck loudly at the baseball game on television without any impressionable daughter's around to hear him. Hell yeah! Then in the morning he'd take Erica grocery shopping and he'd have to try not to fall all over himself when The Hale's came over for dinner.

He'd just found out their last name today. _Hale. _Derek Hale. God, that was hot. Stiles Hale. Immediately he tried to erase that thought from his memory, disgusted with himself for acting like a middle school girl and thinking about Derek's last name with his. It didn't sound half bad though... Wow he was pathetic.

-0000000-

"Do you want corn on the cob?" Stiles asked Erica, pushing the cart through the produce section.

"Yeah! Can we get those little holders for the sides?" She asked, practically skipping towards the bin of corn.

"Sure, if you help me husk them later. Do you want baked potatoes?" He would get some potato chips too just in case Isaac didn't like them baked. But if he did, not like the chips would go to waste anyway.

"Those sound good!" Erica said, putting her hands all over the corn in the bin. Thankfully they all still had their husks, but he still needed to get her digits out of there. He needed to teach his daughter a little self control!

"Stop touching all of them! Let's just pick out a few for tonight." He grabbed a plastic produce bag and let Erica pick out four or five cobs, wondering how much Derek liked to eat. He seemed like a big eater.

Soon enough, they made their way to the meat department. The butcher was pretty gruff looking, acting put out when Stiles approached the counter, but the meat looked amazing. Stiles couldn't believe how much steaks cost these days, but he went ahead and got the ribeyes anyway. They were going to turn out impressively delicious! As long as he didn't over cook them. Stiles hoped Derek didn't like his steak well done. The way a man liked his steak prepared said a lot!

"Mom has a new boyfriend." Erica stated randomly, trying to put a box of fruit roll ups in the cart. Stiles nipped that idea right in the bud, fruit roll ups weren't even that good!

"Oh really?" Stiles tried not to act too interested. Not like it mattered to him much, he _was _gay after all, but he couldn't help but feel a little weirded out. He didn't want just any old guy off the street making impressions on his daughter!

"Yeah. His name's Jackson." She started looking at the fruit snacks, trying to get her dad to buy the ones shaped like Disney Princesses. Fruit snacks were allowed. He liked those.

Jackson? As in Jackson Whittemore? The douchebag jock from high school? Maybe it was a different guy. He hoped for the sake of his daughter's sanity it was. But mainly for his own.

"His hair's too pointy." She gesticulated the way Jackson's hair would have spiked on her own head. Yep, same Jackson. It had to be.

"Well is he nice?" Stiles laughed at her description of pointy hair, but tried to stay focused on shopping. He picked out the cheddar Sun Chips and also some regular plain ones too just for good measure.

"Yeah, he was pretty okay. He makes mom laugh. He got us pizza with the cheese in the crust."

Well that was a good sign he supposed. He wanted her to be happy. Just not with Jackson from high school.

-00000000-

Stiles saw them walking over across the lawn at precisely four o'clock, glad the father and son didn't walk out of their way to use the sidewalk. Because that would seriously have been pointless. Making a mental note to teach Erica not to walk on anyone's lawn for politeness's sake in the near future, he scurried away swiftly out of sight so Derek didn't think he was watching for them like some fucking voyeuristic pedophile.

He heard an eager knock at the door and turned around from the kitchen like he wasn't completely prepared for their arrival. "Hey guys! Come on in!" He called, without opening the door for them. They needed to know just how friendly and lax he was.

"Hey, Stiles." Derek smiled, putting two six packs down on the table.

"Hey Isaac, Erica's upstairs in her room. Go on up if you want!" Stiles offered eagerly, noticing the boy looked ill at ease. The blond boy practically ran away, dying to get away from the boring adults.

"Can I put these in the fridge?" Derek asked, motioning to the beer. Stiles took note of the flavors, Bud Light and Blue Moon.

"Blue Moon? One of my favorites." Stiles laughed, suddenly very nervous, his momentary bout of courage completely diminished.

"Oh good! I was worried you wouldn't like it so I picked up some plain old Bud Light for backup." Thankfully Derek looked just as nervous.

"I like them all, but Blue Moon's so good. Besides, even if I didn't like them too much, they wouldn't go to waste!"

He heard a stampede coming down the stairs, Erica and Isaac evidently not liking her room. "C'mon, the swings are outside." Erica pulled his arm, probably on the verge of coming out of his socket, and Stiles opened the sliding door for them.

Stiles' dad John, the Sheriff of their town Beacon Hills, built a swing set for Erica earlier this year, never having many friends to use it with. Erica couldn't wait to show it to her new buddy. Stiles actually felt a little less awkward having the kids in sight. He felt less on the spot and more like a properly functioning person. Glancing at Derek, he saw the man's shoulders drop subtly, relaxing.

"Well, let's have one of those beers then and sit outside." Stiles suggested, trying to lighten the air.

Derek grabbed one of each type of beer, raising them to Stiles so he could choose his flavor. "I'll start with a bud I think."

Derek shrugged and grabbed two, twisted the top off both. "So, what are we having to eat?"

"Well steaks for us. Does Isaac like hamburgers? Or else we've got hot dogs." Stiles started to explain.

"He'll eat a burger, I'm sure. Let's ask him." Derek made his way out the sliding glass door and called over to his son, amicably swinging with Erica. Isaac and Erica looked supremely thrilled with the prospect of burgers.

"Ask him about baked potatoes. Oh, and corn on the cob too." Stiles prodded, he wanted to make sure everyone was happy!

"Not necessary, he'll eat them. He's not a picky eater, thank God." Derek took a swig of his beer, leaning against the railing of the deck. Stiles couldn't help but gaze at Derek's arms as he draped one across the top of the railing, holding a beer in his right hand close to his face. His dark and light grey striped shirt, although boring in color, really brought out the perfection in his bright eyes. Quickly turning away once he basically got caught, Stiles opened the hood for the grill. Fuck, he hoped Derek didn't realize he was ogling.

"Oh cool, I had other things to offer just in case he was. Erica is a little picky. Last week she told me she _despised_ cheese, but that didn't last long! I was just like, yeah no, I've seen you eat cheese five hundred times." Stiles laughed, hoping he made sense. "Anyways, the potatoes are going to take about an hour. I'll put them on now."

Derek tried to suppress a grin, but Stiles saw it. "Can I help with anything?"

"Umm...not right now?" Stiles wasn't really sure. Erica wanted to husk the corn. Maybe he'd let everyone do that. "Erica wanted to help with the corn, she thinks its _fun." _

-000000-

"Shit!" Stiles couldn't help but exclaim once he saw the small grill fire. Those damn steaks better not ruin! But shit, maybe Derek was a square and disapproved of curse words? Not like the kids could really hear him. They were down in the yard playing a made up game with the cut grass that settled on top of the lawn after he mowed it yesterday. How random! He secretively looked over his shoulder expecting to see Derek reacting negatively to the swear word blurt, but all he saw was amusement.

"Try to move the steaks out of the way and put the hood down." Derek offered, stifling a laugh.

"Oh, right, thanks." Stiles frantically did as he was told, grateful to be brought back to reality. "I hope you weren't gung ho about medium rare!"

"I will refuse to eat anything less." Derek said with a stone face, crossing his arms.

He was kidding, right? Stiles couldn't tell. The man had this crusty, gruff vibe about him. Like if you twisted him the wrong way he'd snap. Not in a villainous or asshole way, just a little rough around the edges. But, who didn't like a bad boy? He probably wore a leather jacket when the weather called for it and listened to the Sex Pistols and drank whiskey on the rocks and...

"Did it go out?" Derek asked, putting a stop to his inner babble. Thank God someone stopped him! He didn't even know where he was going with his idiotic thoughts about Derek and his punk rocker fantasy. He wondered if he had a motorcycle? Maybe he had one parked away in the garage and oh yeah...the grill. Damn his scatterbrain.

Delightedly, the fire had gone out. He probably didn't clean the grill out earlier as well as he thought. Checking the steaks, he discovered they still looked fine. Perfect actually. "Hand me that plate?"

Derek thrusted the clean plate, sans raw meat juice, into Stiles' hands watching him fork the steaks onto it. Stiles tried not to squeal and melt from sheer pleasure as Derek's fingers lightly brushed against his own. Barely. It happened so softly that Stiles wasn't even sure if he'd actually felt anything at all.

"Not as bad a fiasco as I thought!" Stiles chuckled, setting the plate of food on the patio table.

"Everything looks good." Derek admitted. The kids already ate, now settled inside with a lengthy game of Mario Party. Stiles let Erica have his old Game Cube, liking to teach her about 'retro' games. She needed a well rounded education in all the aspects of video games! He remembered playing with his Grandpa's old original Nintendo when he was a kid and wanted to give Erica some similar memories. Not that the Game Cube was really that ancient, but it was kid friendly and totally cool. And it had Mario Party. And Zelda. What more could a kid want?

Popping the top off his third beer, Stiles sat down at the table with Derek. "These steaks are perfect." Derek professed, cutting a piece off and taking a bite. All he did was put salt and pepper on them, nothing mind-blowing! And Jesus, a man who liked it medium rare couldn't be any sexier. He could hardly chew his own meal, so infatuated with Derek's Adam's apple bobbing as he swallowed.

"Awesome! I'm so glad."

"Thanks for having us over, Stiles. Really means a lot." Derek admitted, smiling shyly. He was almost ready for his forth beer. Neither one of them were looking to get smashed while watching their children, but a few beers over the course of a couple hours wouldn't hurt. They had smart kids anyway, ones who didn't require constant hawkeye supervision. He could kinda see them from their spot on the patio anyway.

"Of course! We're friendly around here. Besides, us dads got to stick together!" He stated, wondering where the hell all that trash came from. _Us dads gotta stick together? _Gaggy! Who says that in real life? This wasn't some western movie where the men clapped each other on the back reassuring each other all the time. However, Derek didn't seem to think it was a dopey thing to say.

"Honestly, I really don't get out much lately. I work from home, I'm always home, I could really use a friend. Ugh, listen to me. I'm going to stop talking." Derek shook his head, embarrassed. Stiles was glad he wasn't the only one painstakingly aware of every little thing that came out of his big mouth. Besides, the beer was probably not helping their case. It was helping their confidence and comfort level sure, but definitely not their ability to think about their foolish words before speaking. Oh well!

"Dude, you're fine. I totally know what you mean. Scott, Allison's fiancee, he's always wrapped up in his own shit to have much extra time to hang out with me, not that I'm sitting around crying about it, but I hear what you're saying. I really don't get out much either." Stiles stood up to grab another beer for Derek, leaving the sliding door wide open. He needed a little disruption from this awkward, unnecessary conversation. He saw Derek take a deep breath out of the corner of his eye, looking grateful that Stiles put a stop to that nonsense. Ha!

"Kids do you want a popsicle?" Stiles called over to them while sticking his head in the freezer.

"Yes!" They cried enthusiastically in unison, not needing to be asked twice. Stiles grabbed two random popsicles from the box, the kind that came in those little clear tubes you have to freeze before eating, and cut the tops off for them. He didn't know the flavors, they came in a rainbow of colors, it didn't matter to kids anyway. They'd eat any and all of them.

He stepped back onto the patio, planting a fresh beer in front of his new _friend. _Because all good relationships started out as friends first, right?


	5. Chapter 5

**Can't Swim**

_A/n: I can't believe how often I'm updating! I'm so proud of myself, hehe. Thank you guys for all the encouragement! You're absolutely lovely :)_

**Chapter Five:**

Derek didn't _look _like a stay at home dad. Stiles couldn't see any visible bleach stains on his clothes or clues that made it obvious he stayed home and made fish sticks for lunch. He seemed more like the type who worked on the top floor of a building in the city with a shiny, waxed marble floor, a personal secretary, and scary floor to ceiling windows that don't open. He probably had a costly leather briefcase filled with granola bars and graphs. Ooh, and he definitely wore a designer suit by like Hugo Boss or Armani with a pink button down shirt underneath. Oh gosh, Stiles bet Derek looked absolutely delicious in a suit. Stiles really needed to get to know this man better so he could put a stop to these nonsensical visions. He couldn't decide if he wanted Derek to be a fancy office guy, a punk-rock motorcycle dude, Tony Stark, or a total dork who wore socks with sandals. He was most likely the latter.

"My sister started the company soon after our parents died. She needed something to keep her mind occupied yet still keep her close to them." Derek started to explain, putting his feet up on an empty chair leisurely. "I'm able to do most of my work from home, so I get to stay home with Isaac. Cheaper than getting a sitter I guess, but I get a little stir crazy."

Stiles could understand that! He'd lose his mind if he had to stay home all day. He needed to leave the house _at least_ onceper day just for his own sanity. He could barely sit still through one movie, he couldn't imagine _working_ at home. Like, there wouldn't be any saying of _I'm off to work! See ya later this evening! I'll pick up milk on my way home! _It'd just be like, _I'll be upstairs in the office. I'll come down and get a sandwich in an hour. I'm not even gonna shower._ How gross!

"So, what do you _do _exactly?" Stiles prodded in what he hoped was a casual, non prying manor. He didn't want Derek to think he was some lunatic who had to know every detail, ready to pull a Kathy Bates in _Misery _if he didn't get his answers.

Derek laughed nervously, taking a large swig of his beer. "Well...its kind of weird. I do a little bit of web design for the site, but mostly I design wolfs. Like for stuffed animals. T-shirt graphics. Blankets with wolves. Yadda yadda."

That might have been the most random job he'd ever heard of! Wolf things? How cute! Definitely not what he'd imagined as Derek's profession. He looked more like a mailman than a stuffed animal designer! He tried not to imagine Derek wearing those little mailman shorts and asked a ridiculous question instead. "So, if I wanted wolf pajamas with fuzzy feet attached you could make it happen?"

Derek grinned. "Already made them before! You really think Isaac doesn't have a pair?" Derek laughed, glancing through the doorwall to check on his son. The two kids were still happily playing their video game, not a care in the world. Mario Party could last for quite a while if you set the amount of turns up high.

"You're kidding! I want some!" Stiles _needed _those pajamas. "So, you're like really good at drawing then?"

"I don't want to brag, but...yeah." He chuckled, grinning at Stiles. The two locked eyes for a split second, causing Stiles momentary heart failure. He wanted to throw himself across the glass table and pin Derek to the back of his chair and molest his face. But, he supposed they weren't really to that stage yet. Plus, they were no where near drunk enough.

"Why wolves?" Stiles had to ask. Wolves seemed like a pretty specific animal and especially odd that they chose to do solely that.

"Well, our dad, he was a wolf photographer. He took pictures of other animals too, of course, but the wolves were always his favorite. Ours too. He just had this way with them. Not even really sure how it all came to be such a _thing, _but we were wolf people." Derek scrunched up his face, embarrassed, like he really couldn't believe he said _we were wolf people. _Like that really explained anything_. _Stiles wasn't fazed, he said ridiculous things all the time. Compared to Stiles, Derek spoke eloquently and astutely. But, he had to remember they were drinking. He'd have to take note of the way Derek spoke sober and analyze the difference.

Stiles was impressed. So impressed that as soon as Derek left he was going to look this wolf paraphernalia company up on Google and order something. Well, maybe he wasn't going to order anything...tonight...but he'd surely be studying every single drawing and item that Derek designed. That wasn't considered stalker-like behavior, right?

-0000000-

With two beers left in the refrigerator, the men decided to call it a night. Five each was enough. They didn't feel as irresponsible if they left a few behind.

"Ready to go home, buddy?" Derek asked, speaking loudly. Stiles nearly forgot that booze amplified all voices. He tried his hardest to suppress a laugh, to no avail, letting out a breathy cackle, face bright red from either shame or the beer. Derek turned around to look at him in befuddlement, but didn't have a chance to figure out what Stiles thought was so humorous before Erica spoke, bringing his attention back to his original purpose.

"We're almost done with our game!" Erica whined, pausing the game to prove they were on turn 31 out of 35. They needed to know who won! Couldn't get this far without finishing.

"All right, but as soon as its over we're going." Derek shrugged, trying not to sound like a dick dad.

"Should we have the last beers, then?" Stiles suggested, not really knowing what else to say.

"Eh, might as well!" Derek laughed. They had a few more minutes, what else were they gonna do?

Stiles grabbed the two Bud Lights out of the fridge and twisted the tops off, carrying them outside back to the deck. His citronella candle, suddenly very noticeably fragrant, gave a nice soft light for atmosphere. The moon shown pretty bright as well tonight, but the candle's light really made Derek look humpable. The light flickered wildly and Stiles tried not to blatantly stare at Derek's flawless cheekbones, popping wonderfully in the orange glow while the rest of his face had a shadow over it.

"I haven't had this much fun in a while!" Derek admitted, scratching his forearm absently.

"That's all about to change, dude. Erica and Isaac have already bonded, so were going to _have _to be friends." Stiles smiled madly, probably looking like the Joker, hoping Derek didn't take that the wrong way. He'd like to be more than friends, but Derek didn't need to know that just yet.

"I think I can handle that."

Stiles smiled normally this time, and couldn't help but feel giddy that he was hanging out with this gorgeous creature. And Derek was enjoying himself immensely it seemed. Stiles thought that maybe by next week they'd be making out.

"Do you think it's bad that we've had this much to drink? I mean, the kids are fine, we don't have to drive anywhere...but...you know?" Stiles rambled, not sure where his insecurity came from.

"Well, it probably would be frowned upon by Social Services, but I think we're okay! If we did this every night maybe it wouldn't be so good, but I'm having fun so...whatever." Derek shrugged, not looking worried about it.

"Okay, so only on the weekends then." Stiles laughed, feeling reassured. Next weekend he was going to bring his radio out, they needed a bit of music.

-0000000-

The next morning Stiles felt pretty good. He'd slept all the booze off so he definitely didn't have a hangover. He felt quite proud of himself honestly! Sure, he could tell he'd had a bit to drink last night, but nothing that a big nasty breakfast and a huge glass of water with four ibuprofen couldn't fix.

"Dad, are we going to the pool today?" Erica asked first thing when she spotted her dad.

"Sure, let's just wait a little bit. Do you want some eggs?" He offered, trying to decide what kind to make.

"Yes please!" She loved when her dad made breakfast. "Scrambled?"

Cool, one less decision to make today. "Toast?"

The Stilinski duo finished their breakfast in a timely manor, Erica immediately rushing upstairs to put on her swimsuit afterward. So much for a slow morning! Not that sitting on a chaise lounge chair took a lot of effort or energy, but that sunshine could beat you up! Especially when your skin looked like it hadn't seen the sun in fifteen years. Stiles couldn't understand why he didn't tan, he spent plenty of time outdoors! But alas, pasty and pale he stayed.

This time Derek and Isaac had arrived first. Stiles saw that he had a second lounge chair pulled up close to his like he was saving it. Stiles wondered if Derek did that on purpose by chance that Stiles showed up.

"Hey! I saved you a seat." Derek confirmed, reading Stiles' mind.

"Aw, thanks dude. You're awesome." Stiles couldn't help but grin, pleased to know he was thought of, wishing the chairs were touching so they'd be even closer.

Derek had on his same worn out black bathing suit, and was applying tanning oil to his chest. Stiles tried not to stare with his tongue sticking out like a dog, but it was really hard to resist.

"Dude, would that be weird if I asked you to get my back?" Derek asked, clearly hesitant.

Oh my god. Derek wanted him to touch his back? He wanted him to apply _oil _to his back? Stiles looked up to see if the sky was falling, and much to his surprise, it was not. "Um I don't know, man? Who cares if it's weird. Give me the bottle." Stiles laughed, trying to sound nonchalant. Like he was going to pass up this opportunity?!

"Thanks. I can't reach it very good!" Derek tried to justify his reasons, but Stiles new he just wanted his long fingers to touch him. Or at least that's what Stiles kept telling himself.

Erica and Isaac were already splashing away in the pool, right by the lifeguard, so he figured it'd be okay if he took his eyes off them for a minute and focused on Derek's delectable back. He poured a healthy amount of the greasy stuff into his hand and dubiously put them on Derek's back before he chickened out. Was this really happening? In broad daylight where anyone could see, nonetheless? He glanced around and it didn't appear that anyone was staring at him like he had grown a second head, so he figured it was okay to continue. Derek's skin was so soft and manly, and Stiles was pleased to see that he didn't have back hair. No one wanted back hair. That was just too much. Maybe it'd be okay if they were forty years old. He tried to rub it in without Derek thinking he _wanted _to touch his back in a very casual way. He made sure he didn't get carried away and start massaging his shoulders, because no matter how much he wanted to, that could _not _happen. At least not today.

Stiles looked down and really needed to be careful how he moved away from Derek back to his own chair, because he definitely sprouted a little bit of a hard on. Just a tiny one. Nothing blatantly obvious. Unless Derek liked to glance there! Then he might be in trouble. He was already in trouble just lusting over the man, but he could get away with it longer if Derek didn't see his boners.

Stiles would be perfectly okay with touching Derek every day. Maybe this would become their _thing. _Derek would bring his tanning oil, spf 4, and Stiles would rub it on before they settled in. They could do it every time. Maybe he'd even make Derek put sunscreen on his own back. He could get a lower spf like...20. That's hot, right? His skin couldn't handle tanning lotion. He could only dream.


	6. Chapter 6

**Can't Swim**

_A/n: Again I thank you guys for all the support and love! You all are awesome :D_

**Chapter Six: **

Stiles couldn't believe that just a few hours ago he'd been touching the man of his fantasies and he didn't have to fall all over himself creepily to do it. Derek _asked _him to touch him. Holy fuck it's really just sinking in. Thankfully his mini boner went away fairly quickly from shame after the oiling, but it wasn't like he suddenly got over the fact that it happened! Stiles couldn't wait to get inside his house and jerk off in private.

"Hey, what's your phone number?" Derek asked absentmindedly, as he stood on the front lawn of his house before he went inside after their walk home from the pool.

Ooh, Derek wanted his digits, eh? He assumed he wanted it for practical reasons like checking on the kids or asking how to make soup, but perhaps Derek just wanted to be closer to Stiles. Maybe they could start sexting before bed. Derek could tell Stiles how he wished he were laying next to him in bed instead of his body-pillow or that he just filled a large jacuzzi tub with bubbles and needed someone to scrub his back... It was completely farfetched and a lot to hope for, but Stiles could dream absurdly if he wanted to! He rattled off his number before heading into his own house, eager for solitude. Erica could play with her dolls or something. This was daddy time.

Suddenly he heard his phone go off with a new message. "_So you can have mine too. Derek" _Annnnd that's getting saved _immediately. _Stiles typed a quick reply so Derek knew he received it and went to turn on his shower. He felt sticky and gross from sitting in the sun, but mainly he just needed to take care of a little business. Erica had a tendency to walk in unannounced looking for batteries or something, he didn't want to take any chances.

He felt a little bummed that tomorrow started a new workweek and he probably wouldn't see much of Derek until Saturday. But, they say absence makes the heart grow fonder. Bullshit. It just made the obsessing worse.

-00000-

Stiles sat at his desk on Thursday, playing FreeCell like a good worker should, when he got a call from Allison.

"Stiles, I don't know what to do. I just found out my grandpa went into the hospital, I'm freaking out. No one is telling me anything."

"Allison, relax. I'll call Derek to see if he wouldn't mind looking after Erica. I'm sure he won't care. You can go. I'll call you back in a few minutes." Stiles wasn't the biggest fan of Allison's grandfather, but that's just because he was a conniving dick, condescending prick. However he was her _only _grandpa, and he'd be freaking out too if the situation was reversed.

Suddenly very nervous, having never used Derek's number before, he apprehensively pressed the call button and waited. Derek answered after a few rings, which was nice, Stiles didn't like instantaneous pick ups. Like the person didn't have anything better to do than hold their phone in their hand waiting for some action if they answered right away.

"Stiles, what's up?" Derek asked, like he could tell something was wrong.

"Well, Allison called to tell me that her grandpa went into the hospital...she's freaking out...I hate to ask you this..." Stiles didn't know how to talk on the phone! He talked on the phone all the damn time without issue, and now suddenly it's like he'd forgotten how to speak English.

"Gerard?" He said the name like it was poison, which delighted Stiles to know he wasn't the only one who thought the guy sucked. "Say no more, have her bring Erica over here. Isaac's getting bored anyway." Thank God Derek could read minds!

"Oh my god, you're awesome. I'm only gonna be here til five. I'll like...get dinner for us all or something."

"Stiles don't worry about it. It's not a big deal." Derek chuckled, apparently baffled by Stiles' behavior. Hey, it wasn't like Stiles could assume Derek would be willing to watch his daughter. Maybe he had errands to run? Maybe he was planning on taking a long ass nap? Maybe he just wouldn't want too!

"All right. I just wanted to make sure! I'll stop by when I get home. Thank you so much, dude." Stiles hoped that by calling Derek _dude _he didn't get sorted into the friend zone. Derek needed to know that Stiles called _everyone _dude. Especially if they were a man, but it didn't exclude females. Even Lydia had the honor, but she hated it. Which naturally caused Stiles to call her dude more often. Mainly Stiles needed to stop with the incessant inner monologue and just roll with it.

Stiles called Allison back and told her to go home, never having heard her so happy besides the time she told him about Scott's proposal. He tried not to gush over the fact that he'd get to see Derek after work, and tried to decide if he should bring pizza or Chinese.

Around four thirty he decided to send Derek a text asking him what sort of food he'd prefer since he couldn't make a decision to save his life today. "_Chinese lol," w_as all he got back. That was great but he needed to know what kind. "_Beef & broc and almond chick for kids, whatever else u want. I'm not picky." _He couldn't stop giggling over how Derek abbreviated his words and said the letter 'u' instead of spelling it out. This just confirmed Stiles' suspicions on Derek's texting style, figuring he'd not be very good at it. Which was great. Stiles didn't want a man who was _good _at texting.

He called in the order from the favorable place near the house, picking it up on his way home. He didn't know if they should eat at Derek's house or his own, not wanting to barge in on Derek's home and evening. His legs made the decision for him as he started up the path to Derek's front door. Before he even had a chance to ring the bell, Erica and Isaac threw open the door and ushered him inside.

"Look, we have to show you the cookies that we made." Erica squealed, nearly causing Stiles to drop the bag of food.

"They took dough globs out of the package and put them on a cookie sheet." Derek laughed, trying not to burst the children's bubble.

"Oh good, I'm glad there wasn't a mess." Stiles relaxed a bit, nearly having a heart attack at the thought of Erica and Isaac creating a cookie experiment. Derek would surely never let her back over if they destroyed the kitchen on the first day!

"Food smells good." Derek said, bringing him out of his stupor, grabbing plates out of the cabinet.

"Ha ha thanks, I slaved over it all day!" Stiles laughed, taking the styrofoam containers out of the bag, checking to see if it leaked. Chinese always leaked. "I like what you've done with the place."

"Oh, thanks." Derek said, looking around his own house to see if there was anything embarrassing in plain sight.

"The people who lived here before you was this boring middle aged couple with no kids. They stayed inside all the time and always looked pissed off anytime I saw them. We're real glad that you two moved in and saved us!" Stiles laughed, looking at Erica for a confirmation. She was too busy picking a roll out of the bag to notice.

"Yeah us too," Derek smiled, scooping some beef and broccoli over his rice. "We lived in this little apartment before here, moved there after my ex-wife left the picture, but I couldn't handle it anymore. I needed a garage."

"Yeah, that hot ride you have out there needs its own space!" Stiles laughed, naturally looking at Derek's butt after mentioning the Camaro. And hot damn, his ass sure did look sexy in his sweatpants. Stiles liked that Derek wore casual clothes and didn't look like he tried too hard to impress. The man could literally wear a ripped garbage bag and look good! Stiles suddenly felt inadequate in his work attire, always having hated slacks, but at least they were pretty stylish for khaki. Lydia bought them for him at a department store, not allowing _the father of her child _to be known as a terrible dresser. He couldn't be seen wearing crap! And not like he was about to complain about a free wardrobe.

Derek's house has pretty much the same layout as his own, but with a little less clutter. Probably had to give it a bit more time before the junk accumulated since they just moved in. Derek let the kids eat at the coffee table, turning on the television for them. The tail end of one of the Harry Potter movies was on.

"Do you want something to drink? I have...um..." Derek offered, while looking through his refrigerator. "White wine? Uh, apple juice! Or..._milk?_ That's all we have? Really?" He basically started talking to himself after mentioning the wine, which was _adorable, _probably thinking about his next grocery list.

"Milk please." Stiles laughed, feeling giddy. Derek looked at him oddly, like he thought Stiles was serious! "Ha ha! Wine sounds like the winner."

"Not sure where this came from, don't really remember buying it!" Derek tried to cover for the fact he owned a bottle of white wine. Loads of men liked white wine. It was tasty stuff! Was he worried it made him look homosexual or something? Because _clearly _Stiles would not be worried about _that. _He seriously hoped Derek had a little sugar in his britches.

"No worries, I like a nice glass of white every now and again. You know what, I like it all. All the time. Except for pink wine." Stiles chuckled, grimacing at the thought of drinking the shit.

"I'm with you there." Derek agreed, fumbling with the corkscrew. After he got the damn cork out, he poured two generous glasses and set one down in front of Stiles, who nearly forgot all about his dinner.

"Cheers." Derek held his glass up to Stiles', clanking them together. "Thanks for bringing dinner over, you didn't have to do that."

"Man, it's no problem. Thank _you _for watching Erica at the last minute. You're a lifesaver." Stiles stated, taking a large gulp of his wine, nearly choking.

"I can look after her anytime. Like I said, I work from home. I'm _always _here. Gets a little boring to be honest, its no issue at all having an extra kid runnin' around. Besides, Erica and Isaac always want to play together, but I don't want to send him over and be in Allison's hair all the time. So it's really no problem having her here. She'd probably come over anyway, leaving Allison all alone. I dunno...I'm rambling." Derek carried on, not really sure where he wanted to take his thoughts. At least they were on the same page now. Stiles understood ramble like the back of his hand. Derek could flail his arms around and grunt a few times and Stiles could probably figure out what he meant by it. Possibly. Maybe he'd have to get to know Derek a little better before he got _that _good at deciphering, but it was definitely a prospective possibility.

-000000-

Stiles decided to leave work a little early on Friday, not that it really made much of a difference. His uncle didn't even notice. Allison had went to see her grandfather in the hospital, which apparently wasn't very close by, therefore Erica got to spend the day at the Hale's again. And okay maybe Stiles just wanted to interrupt earlier than normal. Although, he didn't expect to come home to the scene in front of him.

Stiles and Derek's houses were situated on a slight hill, sloping down in the backyard. Between the two houses was a tiny slope, perfect for a slip and slide. Erica, Isaac, and Derek were all wearing their bathing suits, taking turns running down the plastic tarp thing hooked up to the hose. At least Stiles hoped Derek had participated, because _seriously, _that would be hilarious.

"Hey guys!" Stiles called out, greeting the three in the yard.

"Hi dad! Look what Derek got us today!" Erica raved, gesturing to the toy.

"It's lots of fun, look how you do it!" Isaac concurred, hurling his body down the slide enthusiastically.

"Took them to the store today, we couldn't resist the temptation." Derek explained. Stiles noticed he looked a little dry. Maybe he hadn't used the thing after all. He also noticed his muscly pecks, which looked just _divine_, and tried not to gawk and think about licking them while children were present.

"Have you tried it?" Stiles asked, desperate to know.

"Not yet." He laughed, eying the toy suspiciously, like it might hurt him.

"He keeps saying _maybe tomorrow, _but I think he should try it now!" Isaac stated, outing his father.

"I think you should too! You're already in your swim shorts, what's stopping you?" Stiles _needed _to see this man slip and slide in action. He would like to see him slip and slide into his own _pants_, but he supposed that may be a little inappropriate for an afternoon in the yard.

"C'mon dad, do it!" Isaac cheered, pressuring his father into beet red humiliation.

"It's really fun!" Erica chimed in, hoping that Derek would succumb to the peer pressure.

"I'd do it myself if I had on a bathing suit!" Stiles grinned at Derek, hoping that he'd take the dare and just do it.

"Ugh, fine!" He huffed, begrudgingly putting his iced tea onto the ground and strutting over to the top of the slide. Before another word could be said, he lowered himself closer to the ground and threw his body down the slide, albeit not very gracefully at all. Derek didn't get enough speed to begin with and basically got stuck half way. He tried to push his body further down the slide, to no avail, getting no further. Stiles tried not to burst out laughing, he looked like he was trying to do an impression of a caterpillar or something, but thankfully Isaac broke the silence before he said anything stupid.

"Dad, you stink!" He giggled, rushing over to his dad, grabbing his hands and trying to pull him down into the pool of water collected at the bottom.

"All right, that's enough." Derek blushed, getting up from the ground, his chest covered in little bits of grass. Stiles somehow managed to control himself from walking over and picking off the grass pieces one by one and told Derek he made a good effort instead. Derek growled, narrowing his eyes at Stiles, as if this were all his fault. Stiles really couldn't see the issue! He really couldn't understand why Derek looked so embarrassed. It was only a silly slip and slide in front of their kids. _Unless_ he felt dumb in front of Stiles!

Maybe his whole crush thing was a little mutual after all. He sure hoped it was.


	7. Chapter 7

**Can't Swim**

_A/n: As always, thank you guys soooooo much for the encouragement and support! It really means a lot, and obviously is a great boost to my ego. Hahaha. And I always appreciate any feedback! :D_

_By the way, there's a healthy sized vodka tonic in my hands. Could be evident in this chapter. We'll see! Haha_

**Chapter Seven: **

"Dude, what are you doing tonight? Allison left for the weekend and I'm all alone and _so _frickin bored." Scott complained on the phone Saturday morning.

"Probably will just be staring longingly through the window at Derek's house, mustering up the courage to invite him over for another cookout." Stiles chuckled, attempting to sound sarcastic even though he was basically serious.

"Oh. Well in that case, I'm coming over. We're going to grill something awesome and I'll be able to watch how you two interact. You need a second opinion." Scott wasn't going to allow Stiles to say no. But he had a point anyway. It was like your friends always knew and could tell when someone was checking you out or flirting with you, but _you _never noticed it yourself. He basically needed Scott here to confirm everything.

"I like the way you think." Stiles agreed, putting his feet up onto the coffee table, trying to decide what an enticing dinner menu would include.

"Yeah, and then when you guys get too drunk to know better, I'll play Candyland with the kids and let you guys go upstairs and _do it." _Really, Scott?

"They don't play Candyland anymore, it's for _babies_. And besides, that's only like an eight minute game. It'll have to be... Monopoly."

"Oh hell no, Monopoly takes _hours." _At least Scott could joke.

"Exactly! More naked time." He needed to get on track though. "So we need to cook something that Derek won't be able to refuse eating. Last weekend we made _to die for _steaks, it has to be better than that." Stiles really started to worry. He couldn't afford spectacular, but he at least wanted to do something amazing.

"Umm...what about fish?" Scott suggested, albeit not very confidently. Scott really didn't know much about food!

"Maybe..." Fish sounded good, but he wasn't sold yet. Too many different types, how would he ever choose?

"Ooh, what about ribs?" Scott laughed, probably having a vision. "You'll get barbeque sauce all over your chin and Derek will have to wipe it off with his thumb and then I'll casually slip away so he can lick it off instead-"

"Oh my god. Stop! _No!_ That is not something you should be saying to me. I feel like you're getting far too into this whole situation. You're imagining more than _I _am! But actually, ribs sound good. And they're super messy so it'll be _hilarious._ But, those take forever to cook so I better go to the store...like now." Stiles wanted to be upset with Scott for embarrassing him when he was all alone, however he had to admit it _was _pretty funny. And he probably wouldn't oppose to Derek licking barbeque sauce off of his fingers or wiping up a spilled beverage from his crotch or anything like that.

"All right, I'm coming over _now_. We're going to the store together so you don't pick out any health freak side dishes. We're not doing any of that smashed cauliflower crap you made instead of regular mashed po-"

"That was _one time." _Stiles knew he liked his food a little salubrious, but he didn't understand why everyone had to tease him about it! What was wrong with a little nutrition? Sure he liked butter as much as the next guy, but he didn't want to clog his arteries prematurely!

"Yeah I don't think so. We're getting the good shit today. I'll see you in twenty minutes." Stiles wasn't sure if he liked this side of Scott. Allison must've been rubbing off on him.

-0000000-

Stiles and Scott sauntered around the grocery store picking up everything from baked beans to sweet potatoes. Because they'd had regular baked potatoes last time. Scott figured they should mix it up a bit. And besides, sweet potatoes were completely underrated and scrumptious.

"We need a dessert." Scott stated abruptly, pulling up his pants which had started to sag.

"What do you have in mind Junk Food Master?" Stiles obnoxiously turned his whole body three hundred and sixty degrees, hoping to find sudden inspiration in the paper towel aisle. Not so much.

"I haven't thought that far!" Scott snapped, grabbing a package of premium paper plates.

"Let's just do like strawberry shortcake and be done with it." He shrugged, glancing at his watch. "Lydia will be dropping Erica off in a little bit so we gotta get back."

Arriving home shortly after, Stiles and Scott pulled up into the driveway with Lydia hot on their tail in her fancy Land Rover or whatever it was. Perfect timing. He didn't, however, expect her to get out of the car. Erica said hello to Stiles and Scott then rushed into the house, muttering something about the bathroom.

"Hi you two!" She must be in a good mood today, she usually didn't sound this pleasant. Not that she was crabby all the time, just a little less jovial. She probably had an ulterior motive.

"Lydia!" Scott exclaimed, rushing over to get her in a hug. "It's been a few weeks!"

"Yeah I know, been super busy with work. And now Jackson." Lydia explained vaguely. "Speaking of Jackson, I hear you have a hot new neighbor?" Oh. She just wanted to gossip. That's why she got out of the car. So she'd heard through the grapevine, probably from Allison, that Derek lived next door and ugh! How did this have anything to do with Jackson? Stiles crossed his arms defiantly, asking Lydia to make her point.

"Allison showed me a picture. He looks like sex on legs, I seriously hope you're working on that." Lydia laughed, pushing Stiles playfully on the shoulder. Allison had a picture? He needed to see it.

"Oh trust me, he's trying. Although pathetically." Scott supplied, glancing towards Derek's house.

Stiles could have _sworn _he saw a figure peering through the blinds, suddenly disappearing the second Stiles looked over. Maybe Derek peeped through the windows, too. It wasn't an uncommon neighbor thing to do!

"I'm doing my best!" Stiles pouted, putting his hands on his hips melodramatically. "I don't even know if he's into dudes."

"Who cares, go for it anyway." Scott laughed, obviously not understanding!

"Oh and then have to avoid him every time I see him again from pure mortification if he rejects me? Yeah no." Stiles could only take so much. He wasn't about to embarrass himself just in case it backfired! He needed to know _for sure_...or at least be pretty sure before a move was made.

"Well, that's why I'm here today. To observe. Now text him and ask if he wants to come over! Or else I'm leaving." Scott demanded.

"Okay, okay. Jeez. And shut up. You wouldn't _leave _if he didn't come. You spent fifteen minutes picking out those damn ribs, you have to eat them. And fuck, we gotta get started on those. Coming in, Lydia?" Stiles asked, opening the hatch of his crummy old Jeep to get the groceries. He probably could use an upgrade, but he just loved the thing so much! Scott decided to be a help and take the groceries inside and give Stiles and Lydia a second alone.

"I would, but Jackson's taking me to see the Foo Fighters and we're going out to dinner first. I need to get ready." Lydia stated, getting her car key ready in her hand.

"Jealous!" Stiles gasped, totally wishing he'd known about their concert. Oh well.

"Yeah, I'm looking forward to it. But we really need to get together soon. I feel like we haven't spent any time together in so long." Lydia said as she opened the door to her car.

"Agreed." Stiles said, reaching out to give her a hug.

"I'll be able to take Erica for a couple days during the week if she wants. I don't have to go out of town for a little while. Thank God!" Lydia looked supremely grateful for that. She was a rep for a skincare company and always needed rides to the airport. She probably welcomed a bit of a break with open arms.

"That'd be great, I'm sure she'd love that. Well, I gotta get those ribs in the oven. Have fun tonight!" Stiles tapped the roof of her car, stepping away so she could back up.

Stiles went inside to find Scott unpacking the groceries with the kitchen radio turned up, playing Red Hot Chili Peppers' _Scar Tissue_. Erica was situated on the couch watching Beauty and the Beast again. She'd seriously seen that movie a dozen times. He probably needed to update her video collection.

"Get those babies in the oven, they should cook for about two and a half hours." Stiles instructed, getting out his phone.

"_Ribs tonight. Interested?" _Stiles said to Derek. He figured simple was the way to go, or else he'd end up writing a 300 character message that didn't even get the point across.

He waited a good six minutes before he heard the phone vibrate across the counter. "_You betcha," _was all it said. Fuck yeah!

"Dude, ask him if he'd rather have mac and cheese or..._sweet potatoes._" Scott clearly could see that Derek had accepted the invitation, probably from the deranged look of pure glee plastered on Stiles' face. Why he had to say sweet potatoes with such disgust was beyond him though. They were good!

"Oh my god, let's just make the macaroni." He didn't have the energy to deal with his best friend _and _try and stay sane enough so that he didn't look like he needed to enter the looney bin by the time his crush arrived.

-00000000-

"I've brought beer again." Derek laughed, carrying a large twenty four pack of Labatt Blue.

"And plenty of it!" Stiles laughed, holding the door open for his neighbors. Isaac knew the drill already and hurried off to find his friend.

"Well, you said your friend was here too. Better to have too much than run out!" Derek couldn't possibly be any cuter. Stiles definitely – well, _probably_ - got caught unabashedly checking Derek out in his khaki shorts and blue t-shirt, but he didn't care! Derek didn't show any indications of revulsion either, which he took as a good sign.

"Let's throw that stuff in the fridge!"

"Dad, we wanna watch Harry Potter." Erica declared, probably not able to find the DVD herself. Because she most definitely knew how to work the machine and didn't need permission to watch Daniel Radcliffe sputter out spells.

"Okay, I'll help you look in a minute." Not even waiting to see if a missing DVD was even the case.

She seemed satisfied and resumed her search with Isaac. Not two seconds later she announced that they'd found it.

"That was easy." Stiles laughed, just now noticing that Derek and Scott were already introducing themselves to each other. He decided he better tune into their conversation just in case Scott decided to say something horrible.

"Yeah, me and Allison have been together since high school. We're getting married in the fall." Scott explained, thankfully not saying anything about Stiles harboring a boner for Derek. Because when your crush was around, you could trust _no one._

"I think I remember seeing you at one of the Argent's parties. When Kate was still bearable." Derek laughed believably at the mention of his ex-wife, but Stiles could sense the depth and sadness behind it. Or something. Maybe it was more like irritation. What did he know?

"Let's crack open a beer and get this party started!" Stiles proposed, banging his head to the radio music enthusiastically. He didn't know how to act. He didn't even _like _this song. He really needed a beer to calm himself down or else he was certain to make a complete fool out of himself within half an hour.

"Really?" Scott raised an eyebrow, definitely catching on to Stiles' self consciousness.

"Can we take this radio outside?" Derek asked, noticing it was just sitting on the counter and not attached to the cupboards or anything.

"Absolutely!"

-0000000-

"So was that your ex-wife earlier today? I saw you guys in the driveway." Derek asked, trying to sound nonchalant, nearly finished with his second beer. Ha! Stiles new he'd been peeking. He sounded almost _jealous. _Not much to be jealous of, considering Stiles liked men! But it was adorable nonetheless.

"Nah, Lydia and I never got married." Stiles answered simply, not elaborating.

"Yeah, especially not with you being gay and all!" Scott never knew when to keep his mouth shut!

"And that too." Stiles shrugged, trying not to look completely mortified. He wasn't necesarrily ready to reveal that bit of information! However, he glanced over to see Derek's reaction anyway. He wore this look that said _oh really? _Seemingly intrigued. Maybe Derek _did _have a thing for guys. He could only wish.

"Well, you guys created a gorgeous kid." Derek said finally, probably not knowing where to go from there.

"Well, Lydia's definitely got the looks!" Stiles laughed, grabbing another beer from the cooler. It was much easier than going inside every time they wanted a new one. The kids were just fine inside watching Harry Potter learn about the different Quidditch balls. They could come outside if they needed anything.

"She doesn't have _all _the looks. You passed on some good genes, too!" Derek admitted, not realizing the gravity of his words. Hmm... _Is that so? _He'd just have to twist that into Derek finding him insanely attractive!

Scott seemed to read into it the same way, giving Stiles a knowing look. "I'm gonna go check on the macaroni." Scott announced, getting up from the table. They decided to bake the mac and cheese for a bit, making it a little more _gourmet. _

A moment later Scott proclaimed that dinner was indeed done. Stiles and Derek got up from the patio table and went inside to grab a plate, the ribs having been done already. Isaac and Erica emerged from the living room and Stiles made them both a plate, clearly appreciated by Derek who had his hands full.

"Dude, these ribs are a little overcooked." Scott stated with a straight face, instantly breaking Stiles' heart.

"Well that's too damn bad." Stiles couldn't let Derek know he wanted to cry. He just wanted to make perfect ribs for the man! But no. They turned out dry.

Stiles took a bite of his own ribs to see what Scott was talking about. "Dude, they're _fine!"_ Scott obviously just wanted to push his buttons. He had another thing coming!

"I think they're good." Derek confessed, taking his plate outside.

"Thank _you_." Stiles said, his tone dripping with annoyance from Scott, glaring at his friend while at it.

The three men sat outside, gnawing away at their feast, naturally getting barbeque sauce all over their cheeks. Gratefully, Scott had managed to bring out a ridiculous amount of paper towel to wipe their faces with. As much as Stiles would like Derek to wipe the sauce from his face, he wasn't that lucky.

Stiles was pretty positive he felt another person's knee touching his own under the table. He didn't need to look down to know who it belonged too. Scott was much too far away, and definitely would have removed it right away. Stiles pretended like he didn't notice and figured he'd press his luck and see how long he could keep it there before Derek took it away.

Maybe he put it there on purpose? Was this Derek's way of flirting? Stiles surely wouldn't touch knees with someone he _didn't_ find attractive for more than a split second willingly. It had been almost a minute. There was _no way_ this was an accident.

Stiles nearly spit his beer out of his mouth when he caught Derek beaming at him. He had his knee there on purpose. No question. Game on.


	8. Chapter 8

**Can't Swim**

_A/n: I just can't get over it, you guys are so awesome! Maybe it's because this is my first Sterek story and was nervous about it, but I'm just so thrilled you lovelies are liking it! Hope I can continue to satisfy :D_

**Chapter Eight:**

The knee touching ended almost as soon as it began. Not that Stiles was complaining, he surely would savor that moment for years to come, but he knew it couldn't last all night. Besides, Derek probably didn't want to freak Stiles out if he left it there for too long. Or maybe it just got awkward for him. Or maybe he had an itch and just needed to take his leg away to scratch it, and it would've been obvious if he put it back. Yeah, that was it.

He tried to catch Scott's eye to silently gloat about the knee flirting, but he was busy playing with the label on his beer bottle. Which reminded him that he needed a fresh one from the cooler. He grabbed one for Scott and Derek as well, figuring they'd either need it now or in two minutes, saving himself from bending over again and throwing out his back before he hit thirty years old.

"So, where does your ex-wife live?" Scott asked out of the blue. No! He better not make Derek feel uncomfortable. He looked over to see Derek _did _look a bit agitated, but it could have been from the giant bumblebee flying near his ear. Damn those things were fuzzy looking!

"She uh...she lives a few hours away." Derek disclosed, not really going into much more detail than that. Scott and Stiles didn't ask for him to continue, but their expectant, wishful faces must have prompted Derek to elaborate. "She doesn't get to see Isaac much. She has a few...issues."

There they go again with those damn _issues. _He needed to know what these issueswere. _Issues _was a pretty vague term! Maybe Derek was reluctant to bring up anything in front of Scott, afraid it might get back to Allison and then get back to Kate or something. He didn't want to pressure Derek into revealing personal information, but he couldn't deny that he was beyond curious.

"Don't we all!" Stiles laughed trying to lighten the mood, failing miserably because Derek just managed to look offended. Fuck.

Derek scoffed, looking like he wanted to laugh but didn't have the capability. "We do, that's for sure, just not like her."

"I'm sorry I brought her up." Scott apologized, taking a large swig of his beer awkwardly to ease the tension.

"No, it's okay. I just never talk about her so it's kinda strange." Derek glanced through the sliding door to see if the kids happened to be eavesdropping, but he was safe. They were inside laughing like hyenas at the Sorcerer's Stone.

"Kate went pretty mental after a while. The doctors weren't sure exactly what caused her breakdown, but she wasn't always like this." Derek revealed, popping off the top of his beer. "I'll just cut to the chase. First she killed our cat while me and Isaac weren't home, thinking he was demonic or something. While that was bad enough, after she tried to burn our house down she had to go to the hospital."

Stiles and Scott gaped at Derek, basically in shock. They didn't imagine this! He'd piqued their interest too far, they needed to know more. Derek thankfully could sense this.

"She uh...she thought the house had a curse or something and that we were being followed and messed with. It was really quite vague. I don't know. The whole thing is just ridiculous..." Derek nearly chugged his entire beer. Stiles really couldn't blame him! He'd be nervous and uncomfortable too!

"Wow." Scott looked absolutely petrified, like Derek had cooties and some of the crazy might rub off on him.

"I can't imagine what you and Isaac went through." Stiles tried to say the right thing, he hoped it was okay.

"Yeah, it was pretty hard to watch it unravel. Because she wasn't always like that, you know? Not sure where it all fell apart. She isn't allowed to see Isaac on her own, someone has to be there with her. Ugh, I don't know, let's talk about something else." Derek declared, officially dropping the subject.

Stiles thought Derek was doing a pretty good job of holding himself together considering all he'd been through. Although he didn't know how Derek handled his life daily behind the curtains, he figured he kept a level head. Even though Derek had only given them a brief introductory to his baggage about Kate, he figured he had enough to go on. He didn't want to pry any more. Thankfully Derek didn't look perturbed by their conversation, just contemplative.

"We have strawberry shortcake!" Scott supplied, appreciatively changing topics. Derek seemed to perk up a bit at the mention of more food, especially since it had sugar.

"That's Isaac's favorite!" He beamed, glancing at Stiles as if he already knew that, instantly making a complete turnaround into a better mood. Stiles felt pretty darn smug since the dessert was his idea at the store, but he tried not to show it.

"Well, we're also doing homemade whipped cream. Let me go in there and whip it up!" Stiles clapped his hands together, clearly excited. The other two other men got up from their chairs, eager to help appease their sweet tooth's.

Stiles pulled his heavy as fuck KitchenAid mixer away from the corner of the counter, and gave the bowl a quick rinse in the sink just in case it had dust in it. He poured the heavy cream into the bowl and added a bit of sugar for flavoring. He was always amazed by how the liquid could turn into such yummy fluff after just a bit of beating.

Stiles pulled five bowls down from the cupboard and filled them with lumps of angel food cake and a generous portion of sugared strawberries. And obviously a ridiculously large spoonful of whipped cream on top, with the most for Derek. That wasn't even a little bit intentional. Nope. Not in the slightest. Derek didn't seem to notice the uneven rations.

Isaac couldn't have looked happier but he tried to conceal his excitement, not wanting to appear overly thrilled about his favorite dessert in the house of people he didn't know very well. However, he heard him squealing about it to Erica a few minutes later.

He figured the night was going fairly well, despite that little awkward conversation a few minutes ago. They'd just pretend that never happened. Stiles just wanted to concentrate on Derek's smoking hot ass and shoulders.

-000000-

They'd each had six beers by now, give or take a few, none of them really counting. It was safe to say they were feeling _really _good. The kids were now onto The Chamber of Secrets, but decided to pause it and take a break to play on the swing set _in the dark. _Like it changed everything once the sun went down.

He noticed Derek fumbling with the radio out of the corner of his eye, but most of his attention focused on the children. He didn't want them to get hurt! And especially because he was more than intoxicated, he needed to stay aware.

"I love this song!" The sex god exclaimed, turning it up louder. The Foundations _Build Me Up Buttercup _was playing. Who didn't love this song? Suddenly, something he never thought he'd see this early on in their _friendship_, Derek starting singing. Extremely enthusiastically. And oh my god, he had a _terrible _voice, not that he had any room to talk. Stiles didn't think the guy could be any cuter. He had to join in! Besides, Stiles loved to sing. And he couldn't let Derek sing all by himself!

"Whyyy do you build me up, buttercup baby, just to let me down? And mess me around. And then worst of all you never call, baby, when you say you will. But I love you still! I need you!_" _Stiles and Derek sang together, looking each other in the eyes. Stiles was thankful that the lyrics of this song didn't apply to their relationship at all. He never realized what this song was about until now! But that Buttercup chick must have been a bitch, never calling when she said she would, getting his hopes up and all that jazz. So far Derek had texted him back promptly every time and came to both barbeques Stiles had invited him to. He figured that they were doing pretty darn good for only knowing each other for a couple weeks. He tried to be realistic, but all he really wanted to do was rip that t-shirt off of him and straddle his lap right in front of Scott. Scott could go inside.

Derek looked so happy to just let loose and enjoy himself. They were still seated at the table, as much as Stiles really wanted to get up and dance. Maybe he'd wait til the next song. He didn't want to appear too crazy! He figured he'd let Derek see how animated he could be while sitting, and then let him see his drunk dance moves during another song.

Suddenly he heard Scott's tone-deaf voice loud and clear. "Baby baby, try to find a little time and I'll make you mine. I'll be home, I'll be your xylophone-"

I'll be your xylophone? Um, no. This time Stiles could not control himself. Scott stared at him, not realizing what was so funny. Because obviously he thought he had the lyrics right. Stiles didn't care if he sang the lyrics wrong, he did it all the time himself, half the fun was making up your own words, but he couldn't help himself. He just loved to tease his best friend.

"I'll be_ your_ _xylophone_?" Even Derek caught on, calling him out on it. Must've been revenge for Scott asking about Kate.

"What? Is that not right?" Scott didn't get it.

Stiles laughed manically, throwing his head back, causing the kids on the swings to glance up and see what all the commotion was about. "He says, I'll be _beside the phone._ I can't." And he couldn't. Whatever he couldn't was irrelevant, but he assumed it was his ability to stop laughing. And it just got worse. His stomach started to hurt from all the cackling.

"You guys are rude." Scott frowned, feigning feeling insulted.

The three men continued to sing a few more songs, Stiles completely satisfied with the oldies rock station. It reminded him of his mother. They used to listen to classic music when Stiles was a kid, singing and dancing and teaching Stiles all about the music. It made him smile to know that Derek knew older music as well, having someone to share the fun with. Scott liked it, but he didn't know as many songs and may as well live under a rock when it came to music.

As soon as Mungo Jerry's _In the Summertime _came on, he had to get up. He loved his song, he couldn't resist the urge to dance. He knew he would look like a complete fool, but he didn't care. He got up and started to move, halfheartedly scowling at the lyric _you've got women, you've got women on your mind. _No women for him! He just hoped that Derek didn't have a woman on his mind. However, if the knee touching and subtle compliments thrown at him were any indication, plus the blatant ogling he was getting _right now_ while swaying his hips, he figured Derek had a man on his mind. He'd drank far too much beer to feel self conscious about his dancing now, even considering the fact that Derek was checking him out, but he didn't care. He _wanted_ Derek to see his moves. He wanted Derek to get all hot and bothered by him so that maybe by next week they could be naked together.

"You're a good dancer!" Derek said out loud, blushing a bit. Unless the rosy cheeks were just alcohol induced. Scott suppressed a laugh, because while_ their_ singing sucked, Stiles' dancing was definitely not something to be proud of.

"Yeah right!" Stiles yelled, extremely amused, throwing out a couple more of his signature moves with intentional sass.

Derek didn't stop looking at Stiles. It seemed like he had his eyes locked right on his lower body, crotch and all. Stiles could handle that. God knows he'd done enough staring at Derek, about time the ogling was reciprocated.

Naturally the moment, or whatever it was, came to an abrupt halt when the stampede appeared. Erica and Isaac barreled up the deck stairs, nearly knocking Stiles to his feet, pushing through to get back into the house. Derek tried to cajole his son into slowing down with a failed stern voice, but the kids were already back inside before they heard anything. He had a feeling Derek had a pretty intimidating stern voice, but lost his ability to execute it when he drank beer and had an incredibly hot man dancing for him.

At that moment, Derek rose to his feet, declaring he had to use the bathroom. Stiles figured he had a small window to discuss the situation with Scott. "Dude, we were touching knees."

"No way!" Scott's eyes opened wide in disbelief. "Toss me another beer."

Stiles grabbed another beer for his friend and continued to tell the story. "Yeah, I felt it and thought it may have been an accident at first... But he left it there way too long."

"Yeah, you don't touch knees for more than two seconds on accident. That's one of those things you're aware of at all times."

"That's what I thought. But then we locked eyes, knees still touching, and he _smiled _at me?" Stiles tried to say quietly, forming the last bit into a question for no justifiable reason.

"Dude, he's so got a thing for you! Hell yeah! Now get in there and take him up to your room!" Scott laughed, turning around to see if Derek was coming, making sure he wasn't about to get caught.

"Ohh okay! Sure!" Stiles shook his head, not amused. He could fantasize about Derek all he wanted, but he just didn't like Scott adding his own ideas to the mix.

"He's been in there a long time. I bet he's pooping." Scott laughed, nearly choking on his beer.

"Seriously? Oh my god you're so weird." Stiles wanted to feel annoyed and grossed out, but the kid in him couldn't help but laugh at the mention of poop.

"Yeah, but seriously I can tell that he's into you. He's been looking at you all night. He practically told you how hot he thinks you are earlier."

"When? I don't remember that!" Stiles surely would remember Derek calling him attractive in any shape or form! Scott looked at him, letting him think it over for a second. "_Oh_ _yeah_, when we were talking about Lydia."

"Duh. You can't deny that he doesn't want your body."

-00000-

An hour or two later, the kids were asleep on the couches, the DVD menu stuck on the screen. Stiles made a point to turn it off, but didn't bother moving the kids. It was only after midnight, but it felt like at least three.

"Isaac can sleep here if you want. No need to wake him up to go next door. Doesn't he look comfortable?" Stiles offered, glancing at Derek's son. He really _didn't _look comfortable, with his arm dangling off the edge of the couch and his head situated at an impossible angle. He'd probably have a stiff neck in the morning if he didn't position himself better.

"Okay, cool. That's fine. I better get going though." Derek tried whispering, but probably ended up speaking in his regular volume considering the alcohol level.

"I'm gonna go sleep in the spare room." Scott declared, obviously too drunk to drive home. He didn't wait for any sort of response from Stiles, just pushing past the two and headed up the stairs. Stiles heard him stumble around, practically about to fall through the floor. Scott definitely couldn't handle his booze as well as Stiles.

Suddenly, he realized they were alone. The kids were asleep, and Scott probably left them on purpose. He really wanted to kiss him. He doubted it would happen tonight, but he _really _wanted it to happen. Like yesterday.

Stiles moved to the kitchen, leaning against the counter to get away from the kids a bit. Derek followed suit, stopping closer to Stiles than he'd imagined he would. Their shoulders were nearly brushing. If Stiles moved any way at all they'd certainly touch.

"Do you want a glass of water or something?" Stiles offered, trying to break the silence. If he didn't say something and ruin the moment right now, he didn't know what would happen.

Derek shrugged, not caring one way or the other. Stiles looked at Derek's face, his mouth open a bit, eyes fixed on Stiles with lust. Stiles couldn't handle it at all. He turned around to grab two glasses out of the cabinet, breaking eye contact.

They gulped down their waters in silence, Stiles not knowing how to proceed from here. Was this just a drunk thing? Did Derek _actually _find him attractive and appealing? He couldn't tell. He seriously hoped it was a real thing that would carry over into the sober world. His heart couldn't take it if Derek didn't really mean it.

Derek put his glass into the sink, and started to head towards the front door. No! Stiles didn't want him to leave yet. He wanted to say, _wait! Let's go upstairs. My sheets are clean and I have lubrication. The kids won't hear a thing. _But obviously that couldn't happen. Besides, that was probably really weird.

Stiles followed Derek out the door, stepping onto the porch to enjoy the moonlight. "This was really fun." Derek admitted, turning around to face Stiles.

"I agree. Maybe next time we should crack open the hard liquor!" Stiles laughed, not really serious.

"We'll see." Derek winked, turning around and walking away a bit, still within reach. Oh man, Stiles was in trouble.

Stiles couldn't help himself. Before he knew it, his hand was smacking Derek's ass. Hard. Holy shit balls. Did he really just do that? Did he really just slap Derek on the butt? _Wow. _Shit. Fuck! He didn't know what to do! He tried to look casual, but he had a feeling he just managed to look like he was trying to hold in a shart.

"You're gonna pay for that." Derek smirked, rubbing his butt a little where it stung, looking as if he _liked _it. Oh man. "I'll see you tomorrow." He wasn't going to give Stiles the satisfaction of getting any further than that tonight, but by the way he spoke, he didn't have any objections to future heavy petting.

-000000-

_A/n: Oooh they're kind of getting somewhere! Slowly. Hahah. Hope you like it!_

_Also, I've noticed some of you have found me on tumblr. That's cool! Go ahead and follow me on there if you want! garbageandmusings_

_:D_


	9. Chapter 9

**Can't Swim**

_A/n: You guys are incredibly awesome! I love you all. Thank you so much! Also, just want to mention that I don't have anyone looking over this story before I post, so a few mistakes here and there are probably guaranteed. Hahaha_

**Chapter Nine: _(holy crap, 9 already? Damn, I'm cruising on this!)_**

Oh my god. The butt slap. That really happened. Ahhh! Stiles needed to go to bed and forget that it ever occurred, because he seriously didn't know how he'd ever be able to face Derek again. Even though Derek liked it. Even though Derek said he was going to pay for it, insinuating it was going to involve sexiness. He shouldn't have done anything. The cat was out of the bag. Kind of. Maybe only halfway. The cat was trying to get out of the damn bag but had its claws stuck and was flailing, whining. He was drunk and needed to stop thinking because his thoughts were not helping or logical.

But first, before he went to bed, he needed to take care of a little business under the boxer briefs.

The next morning he woke to hear Scott's distinctive voice downstairs talking to the kids obnoxiously loud for...eleven am. Damn. He hadn't slept in til eleven in quite a while. It felt good. Gross, because he'd wasted a bit of the day, but basically fantastic nonetheless. He figured he might as well face the day.

"Morning sleepyhead!" Scott called, cheerful and with a whisk in his hand. Oh god, he was cooking.

"Yo." Stiles rubbed his eyes and tried to see what he had going on. He hoped his outdated laminate counter tops were still intact and no acid spills or microwave explosions had ruined them. So far so good. He couldn't afford to renovate his kitchen even though the counters _were_ hideous and crummy.

"Relax, its only scrambled eggs. And bacon. Can't forget bacon." Scott explained, sensing Stiles' apprehension. Oh god, the grease splatters! Stiles probably would need to do some deep cleaning later.

"I had bacon in the fridge?" Stiles couldn't remember buying any recently. He hoped it hadn't spoiled.

"_No_, I just butchered a pig in the garage. Obviously!" Scott shook his head, resuming his cooking. Hopefully it hadn't burned.

"Where's Erica and Isaac?" Stiles looked around but couldn't see them.

"Outside. They're on the swing set challenging each other to who can swing higher. I think Isaac is winning, Erica hasn't looked too happy." Scott laughed, peering through the kitchen window to view the kids. Oh. Stiles probably could have figured that out if he stopped to listen. The kids were squealing and laughing pretty loudly, most of the windows were open, who knows how he didn't hear them. Now that he was tuned in, he'd like them to quiet down a bit. Maybe he just needed some aspirin.

As it turned out, Scott actually knew how to make pretty decent eggs. The bacon almost perfect. All that living with Allison must have improved his domestication skills. He wanted someone to domesticate him! Maybe Derek knew a thing or two about making biscuits and gravy or fried potatoes. And holy Jesus, he couldn't concentrate.

"I slapped his ass." Stiles blurted, the kids thankfully out of earshot.

"Derek's?" Scott raised an eyebrow, chewing a piece of bacon repulsively with his mouth open.

"No, the mailman's. Whose do you think?" Stiles shook his head, baffled his friend could act so naïve sometimes.

"I was just making sure!"

"Well, I think he liked it." Stiles continued. "He said _you'll pay for that _in like a super creepy, cheesy yet unbelievably sexy way."

Scott couldn't hold back his amusement. "They want to go to the pool, you gotta call Derek."

"Yeah right! I can't ever look at him again! I'm so mortified." Stiles slunk back in his chair melodramatically, eying his phone on the table suspiciously, like Derek could see him. And holy shit, his name just appeared on the screen like he _did _know they were talking about him.

"Speak of the devil. You have to talk to him!" Scott grinned, laughing maniacally, sliding the phone across the table so Stiles could answer it. God damn it. Why! He wasn't ready to talk to that hunk.

"'ello?" Stiles said, clearing his throat.

"How are you feeling?" Derek asked, referring to the hangover level.

"Not too shabby! Only been awake for like half an hour, slept it off. You?" Stiles asked, wishing they were just texting instead. Derek's voice was so perfect, it was like a cross between Jack Davenport without the English accent and okay, actually it wasn't that deep at all. Never mind. Scratch that. He sounded absolutely _nothing_ like Jack Davenport. But it was definitely manly and gave him goosebumps.

"Great. So, the kids walked over-" Derek started to say. So that's where they went! He wondered why the house got quiet all of a sudden. "They wanna swim of course."

"Who would have thought?" Stiles said, rolling his eyes. Those damn kids wanted to swim every available minute! Didn't they know that Stiles needed to stay inside all day and sulk from humiliation and couldn't be seen wearing a bathing suit, exposed and vulnerable in front of the guy whose ass he just slapped?

Maybe Derek would let him rub the suntan oil on his back again.

Okay, no. They were past that now, thank you repercussions from the night before.

"Do you want to go with us, or should I just take them?" Derek asked, implying that Stiles might be too embarrassed to show his face. Well, he'd show him! Stiles would _not _hide out in shame. He was going to go to that pool like a man and...well he'd take it from there.

"Nah, I'll join you. Scott, you wanna go to the pool?" He asked away from the mouthpiece as not to deafen Derek. Scott nodded, clearly needing to see the interaction after the events of the previous night.

"We'll meet you up there, you don't have to wait for us if you want to go now." Stiles offered.

"Well, we still need to get ready. Besides, Erica needs to go home and put on her bathing suit. Why don't we just meet outside in fifteen?"

Oh my god he wanted to walk together? Stiles couldn't decide if his dreams were coming true or if Derek really just wanted to make him suffer. Probably both simultaneously.

"Dude, do you have shorts I can borrow? I wanna swim!" Scott asked, looking seriously hopeful.

"I'm sure we can figure something out. Let's go upstairs and check."

Seven minutes later, Stiles and Scott were dressed wearing swim shorts and ready to go. They didn't need a whole fifteen minutes. Erica had changed as well. He looked out the window just for the hell of it to see that Derek and Isaac were already outside.

"I guess we weren't that slow!" He called out, Derek looking up and over to where Stiles stood in the doorway. The three exited the house and made their way to the yard to meet with the neighbors.

"Well, I didn't know how long it took you to get ready!" Derek shrugged, guiding Isaac forward with a hand on his back. Isaac ran away from his father and skipped closer to Erica so they could walk together. Thanks. Now that the kids were far ahead, he had to walk with Derek. Right next to him. The pressure was on.

"I'm not a woman! And in case you haven't noticed, not much hair here to style." Stiles laughed, motioning to his cropped head. Derek chuckled, not shy about checking Stiles out. Hmm...

And obviously they weren't going to talk about it. Derek didn't even seem phased about the night before. Maybe he forgot. Maybe he blacked out as soon as he got home. It was possible, right? Who cares that he hadn't had nearly enough beer for that to happen. Maybe he had a shitty memory. Stiles seriously hoped Derek had a terrible memory. And not _really_ when it all boiled down to it, he didn't want a guy with premature Alzheimer's, but for the sake of his own dignity this afternoon he'd like it if Derek had problems recollecting last night.

"How's Allison's grandpa?" Derek addressed to Scott. Scott seemed alarmed that Derek would even ask.

"Oh uh...he's not doing that great. They found out its cancer." Scott explained like it was no big deal.

"Oh gosh!" Stiles exclaimed, irked that Scott hadn't told him. "Well I hope he's okay."

Even though Stiles didn't like that guy, he still didn't wish the worst for him. It seemed like Derek felt the same way about his ex-father-in-law. Blegh, Stiles didn't even want to talk about him. Way to pull the mood down into depressing territory, Derek.

"Gerard never did like me." Derek mused, almost joyous about the fact.

"I can't imagine why!" Stiles said out loud, thinking of all the good qualities Derek probably possessed. Because clearly they didn't know each other that well, yet. And damn, he'd just said that out loud. Derek chuckled absently, not making a big deal about the compliment. Stiles was glad for that, he didn't need to be put on the spot right now.

"He had his reasons I suppose. Not that I could tell you what they were! He did said he didn't trust my smile a few times." Derek laughed, picking up the pace. Stiles couldn't trust that smile either. Actually, he just couldn't trust his own dick _when_ Derek smiled.

The kids were nearly to the gate for the pool entrance. Man, he wished he had a pool in his own backyard. So he could go skinny dipping whenever he wanted and drink beer out of glass bottles and run without getting yelled at by a greasy lifeguard. He'd just want it without the hassle and maintenance that came along with it though. Thus, he'd need a pool boy to clean it. Yeah, he'd definitely have a pool boy. One that looked precisely like Derek. With a speedo.

Stiles then noticed the cute design on Isaac's adorable swim shorts. Brown with a large, subtle outline of a wolf near the hip in a cream color. That had to be one of Derek's designs.

"Hey, is that your handy work?" Stiles asked, gesticulating towards Isaac's shorts before he walked too far away.

"Oh yeah, came up with those last year I think. They were too big on him then" Derek shrugged, looking like he didn't want to brag about it. Stiles was on to this guy. He probably knew all the details about the process that went into designing those damn shorts up to the very day they were made.

"Wow, it's really good!" Stiles gushed, trying to get a better look at Derek's drawing ability.

"Were you expecting substandard quality?" Derek laughed, kicking his dorky sandals off next to a lounge chair. They were these woven, brown loafer things with like a monk strap that looked like some tan Floridian guy would wear in the 1980s. They probably cost a lot. He bet they were comfortable. His dad would probably wear them. He didn't want to think about Derek wearing similar shoes to his father. Gross.

"Yeah, I had a hunch that you sucked and were just faking the whole 'good artist' thing." Stiles made a goofy face and Derek nudged him on the shoulders. Man, his hands had like electricity running through them, because Stiles felt a chill every time Derek touched him.

"Screw you." Derek tutted, rolling his eyes.

"Didn't know we were to that point yet, but...all right!" Stiles shrugged his shoulders, feeling brave all of a sudden. Whoa. He really needed to cut back on his flirting or else Derek was surely going to catch on! God forbid.

Derek shook his head, chuckling quietly. Was this a joke to him! Stiles was serious, no matter how sassy he may have sounded. He almost forgot that Scott and the kids were standing right there. Scott eyed him knowingly, trying to keep a straight face at Stiles' pitiful attempt at flirtation.

Derek and Stiles applied sunscreen to the kids and let them run off into the shallow end of the pool. The three men laid there for a while, sweating their balls off and trying to get a tan. Derek and Scott already had a nice brown color to their skin which looked absolutely dreamy. But not on Scott. Ew.

Stiles probably couldn't have looked more like a ghost.

Scott then decided he needed to get in the water, leaving Derek and Stiles alone like usual. He didn't mind anymore. A half hour ago he would have been terrified to sit alone with Derek, but now he had confidence. Or so he thought.

"Look at Scott." Derek said simply, not making it sound like anything particularly excited was happening. Stiles looked up to see Scott had Erica up on his shoulders and was giving her a piggy back ride through the pool.

"How cute. He's gonna be a good dad." Stiles said absently, wondering how long it would take Allison to get pregnant after their wedding.

His train of thought couldn't have been more random today. He noticed Isaac's swim trunks again and wondered what sort of wolf paraphernalia Derek and his sister produced.

"So, do you guys make wolf shirts that are like the kind greasy, basement dwelling nerds would wear while playing World of Warcraft with crumbs all over it or like...stuff you'd find in the hunting section of Bass Pro Shop?" He asked out loud, hoping Derek didn't find that offensive.

"Wow, that's descriptive. Um...well we have a bit of everything really. Yeah we have some of that dorky wolf shit you're probably imagining, but we also make dainty little shirts that women would wear that actually look cute and..._cool_ things." Derek laughed, thankfully able to poke fun at his own job. Stiles wondered what sort of things were considered _cool._

"Have you ever drawn any werewolves?" Stiles asked, thinking werewolves were significantly cooler than regular wolves.

"Plenty." Derek said simply, not elaborating.

"Well that's good. I guess if you were solely a wolf stuff company you'd have to cater to all types of styles."

Derek just smiled and started to play with the strings of his swim shorts waistband. He didn't know what he was so worried about earlier. Stiles had this guy in the bag.

-00000-

Later on in the evening, after Scott had gone home to reunite with Allison and pulled Stiles aside to tell him to _get on that, times a-wastin', _Stiles decided he didn't want to be alone. Not in a dejected, miserable, he couldn't take the emptiness of his bed at night any longer sort of way, just that he was bored. He looked out his back window and saw that Derek was on his deck watering a potted plant.

He went outside onto his own deck and called over to the macho man. "Hey handsome, you wanna come over for pizza?"

Derek froze and turned hesitantly to look at Stiles on his deck. He grinned, putting the container of water down. Because Derek didn't use a watering can, those were for gardening fanatics. He could probably stand to purchase one, though.

"I would but...I actually already ordered one!" Derek laughed, leaning over the railing with his hands digging into the edge, probably getting full of splinters. Stiles would gladly pull those out with a needle and tweezers for him. He'd give his left nut to be able to take care of Derek's hands. Well, actually he needed that nut. So maybe a pinky toe or something equally as useless.

"No kidding! What are the odds?" Stiles snickered, not sure if he believed the guy.

"Erica is already here, I ordered too much. Was gonna call you over anyway. I've got a little bit of vodka." Derek cajoled, hoping that the mention of booze would be enough to reel him over.

"Now you're talking." Stiles laughed, waltzing down the deck stairs to enter Derek's house from the backdoor. And man, he probably shouldn't think about Derek's asshole while the children were present. Because once he got started daydreaming, it sometimes took a bit to settle down.

"It'll probably be here in fifteen minutes or so." Derek estimated, looking at the digital clock on the stove for reference.

"Awesome. I hope you got the anchovy, Erica _loves _anchovies." Stiles said with a straight face, purposely trying to push his daughters buttons. She hadn't quite grasped the concept of sarcasm and joking yet.

"No I don't! Those are disgusting!" Erica whined, looking fearful for her dinner. She looked on the verge of tears, as if she really had to eat an anchovy pizza.

"Don't worry, we got the veggie pizza instead." Derek tried to sound reassuring, but that only managed to make Erica look more concerned.

"Gross!" Isaac chimed in, kneeling on the kitchen table chair, trying to get in on the conversation.

"If you don't want the veggie pizza, I guess you can have sardines for dinner." Derek shrugged, pulling out a can of sardines from the pantry. How could Derek have something so repellant in his possession? He may have to reconsider his crush.

"What are those?" Isaac looked skeptical, peering at the can nervously.

"They're little fish-" Derek started to explain before Stiles cut him off.

"Yeah with the eyes and bones and the skin still attached! Don't eat them, Isaac!" Stiles warned, saving Isaac from being traumatized and/or puking.

"Oh nasty!" Isaac wrinkled his nose in disgust, pushing the sardines away from him like they would contaminate his skin.

"Don't you guys remember when I ordered it?" Derek shook his head, rolling his eyes at Stiles. Derek could be pretty cute when he wanted to be. Especially when teasing the children.

"Yeah you _asked _for pepperoni." Isaac declared, but sounded like he wasn't sure if his facts were truth or not.

"Then there's nothing to worry about." Derek chuckled, just as the doorbell rang. "Oh cool, they're early."

Derek paid for the pizza, and put the two boxes down on the counter along with a two-liter of caffeine free Pepsi. Kids didn't need any more energy at night. He got out a few paper plates from the cabinet and let the kids go to town.

"I hope you like Hawaiian." Derek said, looking worried.

"It's my favorite." Stiles grinned, nearly drooling at the delicious meal.

"I knew you had good taste." Derek smirked, putting three pieces onto his plate. Of course he had good taste, he had a massive crush on Derek didn't he?

"I love the pieces with the big bubbles in the crust." Stiles laughed, glad there was one of those in the box.

Derek laughed, putting his plate down to grab the vodka out of the freezer. It wasn't a brand new bottle, which made Stiles wonder how often Derek drank by himself. Although, it didn't look like much was missing either.

"What do you want with your booze? We have _diet_ tonic, juice, Pepsi obviously, I have a lemon we can cut up..." Derek rattled off the possibilities, holding up the lemon for Stiles to see.

"I'll just have it with a bit of water and some lemon." Stiles shrugged. It was quality vodka, he could handle the taste.

"Good, the lemon's on the verge of going to waste anyway." Derek laughed, filling two tumblers with ice. So Derek was going to serve him a near rotten lemon! How could he! Eh, oh well. He'd never know the difference anyway. He wasn't too good for less than perfect fruit. But, even if he _was _too good for shitty quality, it wouldn't matter with Derek. Hell, he'd probably even eat the revolting sardines if the man asked him to.

-000000-

With the kids curled up on the couch watching Nickelodeon, Stiles and Derek sat in the kitchen at the table. They were nursing their second vodka, not able to have much since Stiles had to work in the morning, and feeling significantly buzzed. Just enough to take the edge off and loosen the nerves.

He could get used to this. Where the kids watched TV and entertained themselves while he and Derek drank booze and ate food. And stared at each other. Because that's just what they were doing right now. Derek had this hungry look on his face, like he could eat Stiles in front of everyone. Stiles probably wouldn't mind. He didn't know what kind of sloshy boozed face he had on, but he hoped it looked lustful and sexual. He probably looked like needed to burp or something.

"You know, we could always get a babysitter one night." Derek said out of the blue, blushing a teeny bit.

"Erica has a babysitter." Stiles mentioned, like Derek was an idiot. Duh! He and Allison were practically related, maybe Derek _did _have a terrible memory! He didn't look like the dumb jock type who needed to be reminded of things over and over, but what did Stiles know?

"Yeah...I...that's not what I meant." Derek said finally, struggling a bit. Oh. _Oh._

"Oh." Stiles caught on, not able to vocalize anything else. A babysitter for both Erica _and _Isaac. So he and Derek could go out.

"If you ever wanted to get out and away for a bit." Derek shrugged, looking like he regretted ever saying anything. Stiles nearly fell out of his chair at that statement, but managed to balance himself out before Derek noticed his clumsy reaction. He also had to remember they'd only had a little bit of vodka and weren't nearly inebriated enough for the nerves to disappear or to fall out of chairs.

"Is this your way of asking me out?" Stiles narrowed his eyes, tilting his head at Derek, waiting for a response.

"I'm just throwing it out there." Derek said nonchalantly, taking a sip of his drink.

"Uh huh, sure. Well, I think we _should _get a babysitter. Like, as soon as possible, because I definitely want to go on a date with you." Stiles shrugged, trying to sound casual but probably ended up coming off as a spastic, overly ecstatic weirdo.

"Good." Derek smiled, emptying his drink with one last gulp and standing up to put the glass in the sink.

Stiles took this as his cue to go home, seeing that it was nearly eight o'clock. Not late at all, he surely wouldn't be going to bed in a hurry, but if he didn't leave now he was going to get in trouble.

"Erica, I'm going home. Are you coming?" Stiles asked, giving her no option with the tone of his voice.

Erica answered pleasantly, looking tired herself. She did have a big day in the sun and definitely just filled up on too much pizza. He had to let her make her own mistakes sometimes!

"I'll talk to you this week and we'll figure out a day." Derek smiled, opening the door for Stiles to let him out.

Stiles couldn't believe it. They were going to go on a date. An actual real date. Where people could see them together in public and they'd know a guy like Stiles could snag a hottie, giving people with low self-esteem hope. They'd get to wear nicer clothes and sit in a restaurant and be served and pay too much for alcohol. That is, if they decided to go out for dinner. Stiles liked dinner. He hoped they at least got dinner at some point during the date. That didn't have to be the main event. Stiles would be perfectly fine if they went to Disneyland instead.


	10. Chapter 10

**Can't Swim**

_A/n: Ahhhh you guys are the best! Thank you so so so much for all the love. :D_

_I didn't expect you guys to like this so much! I've over the moon. I'm a bit nervous to get into the smut, since I'm really not a horny person! My boyfriend probably hates me because I'm hardly ever in the mood to have get physical. Hahahah we'll see how it goes._

_And damn, this chapter is a lot longer than usual. Enjoy!_

**Chapter Ten:**

Stiles didn't know how to proceed. Was he supposed to make the next move? Or was he supposed to wait around for Derek to contact him? That could take days! Should he let the kids intervene so they _had _to talk to each other? _No_. This was between the adults. He needed some advice, and Scott probably wasn't the best person to give it, but who else was he going to call?

"Scott, we're going on a date." Stiles said abruptly, once his best friend picked up the phone. He didn't even bother to say hello first.

"No way! Finally!" Scott exclaimed, and Stiles could hear the rustling of the phone being switched between ears to a more comfortable position.

"Oh my god, you act like we've been pining over each other for years! He's only lived here for like a month!" Stiles chortled, only a little miffed.

"_And..._" Scott waited for Stiles to elaborate, ignoring that last comment.

"So he said _I'll talk to you this week to figure out a day. _Like, do I call him? Do I text him? Do I wait for him? I don't know what move to make." Stiles asked, completely at a loss. Completely frantic.

"I dunno, dude. When did this happen?"

"Sunday night." Stiles provided, throwing his legs out from under the covers of his bed, absolutely sweltering.

"Okay, it's Tuesday. Maybe shoot him a text, just say hello or something. Ahh, I don't know dude! I don't know how to date! I've been with Allison since high school and she was practically waiting at my doorstep and handed to me!" Scott griped, only whining a little.

"Uh huh, I don't remember it going quite like that. Didn't you pretty much have to stalk her first?" Stiles accused, trying to embarrass his friend.

"_No. _Not even close. She was dying to go out with me." Scott wasn't going to take the abuse!

"You keep telling yourself that. And whatever. This isn't about ancient history anyway. _What_ _do I doooooo?" _Stiles whined, not even trying to hide it.

"Oh my god, dude, just text him." Scott was getting frustrated and didn't know how to advise his friend.

"Fine, you're no help at all." Stiles grunted, and hung up, knowing Scott wouldn't be offended in the slightest. He texted him seconds later to ask if he and Allison would be available to babysit Isaac and Erica when the time arrived. Or else he'd have to ask his father, who had an unpredictable work schedule.

The sound of a new text arriving a minute later had Stiles almost ignoring his phone since he figured it was just Scott with an affirmative reply to his question. But oh how wrong he was. He couldn't help but smile giddily at receiving a message from just whom he wanted to speak with!

"_Hey." _That's it? Really Derek? How was he supposed to respond to that lackluster piece of crap message? Even with Derek texting him first, he still basically had to come up with the first bit of conversation.

Before he even had a chance to respond, another message came through.

"_Do you still want to go out this week?"_

That's _much_ better. Thankful for something to go off of, he started to reply. ...And then he got nervous. And when he got nervous he said asinine and inane things. And nothing good could ever come from that.

"_Absolutely! When's good for you? Tomorrow? Thursday? Friday? Saturday? Sunday? Unless you want to wait until next week..." _Stiles couldn't help himself. He was high on caffeine and he probably shouldn't have had that iced coffee at five o'clock. After he'd pressed send he immediately regretted his obnoxious decision.

"_Nevermind, I've reconsidered." _That turd. Yeah right. But who could blame a comment like that after the psychotic message he'd just sent. Did he really list every possible day one by one? _Wow._ He should probably make an appointment to get his head examined for a mental condition.

"_Ha ha, nice try." _But what if he _wasn't _joking? What if Derek really had changed his mind? He waited a few minutes for Derek to reply, working up a sweat and practically biting off his tongue in anticipation. Nearly eight minutes later he received the next installment, surprised by the length and the content.

"_Friday? Allison just called me to say they'd be willing to watch the kids on Fri. I'm glad you've been spreading this around."_

_What? _That lying bitch! A week or so ago she said she didn't even _have _Derek's number! And why on earth would she take it upon herself to call Derek and offer such a thing? Ooh, she was gonna get it. Who in their right mind would ever think that was okay? Ugh! He wondered if Derek was actually mad about gossiping to Scott about the situation, or if he should just decipher it as sarcasm. He hoped so. Most normal people called up their friends to ask for advice!

"_I really don't think mentioning our potential date once to Scott 20 mins ago would be considered 'spreading it around.' lol. But, Friday sounds good :-)" _Stiles tried to sound casual, like he wasn't over analyzing the entire thing, so he made sure to throw in an _lol _for good measure.

He got up from his bed, leaving his phone on the pillow to not feel obsessive, and went to check on Erica who was in her room playing _singer. _She probably didn't want Stiles to hear her singing along to the scratched and faintly skipping Beatles CD that she probably found on the floor somewhere, but she was just too cute to resist. Listening to his daughter botch up the words to _She Loves You _could quite possibly be the cutest thing he'd ever seen her do recently, surpassing last month when she cut off all the hair of her one of her Barbie's to make her look like 'daddy.'

The next song came on, _I Want to Hold Your Hand, _and Stiles couldn't help himself as he started skipping into the room, holding out his hand for his daughter to grab. Erica took the hint, and grabbed both of her father's hands and let him take the lead. Stiles and Erica bounced around, belting out the lyric 'I want to hold your hand' over and over, swinging their arms back and forth until he ran out of breath. Keeping up with a child was hard work! He didn't even need a gym membership.

"This is a good CD, Erica, where did you find it?" Stiles asked, genuinely curious because now that he thought about it, he couldn't actually remember even owning it.

"Grandpa gave it to me, he said you could teach me the songs." Erica explained, picking up the case to shove into Stiles' face. She had a pile of old CDs that his own dad must have passed on to Erica last time she visited. He approved, he wanted to start Erica on her music education as early as possible. He refused to let her grow up and not know a thing about different musical genres besides top 40 hits.

The two sang a few more songs, Stiles tickling her and blowing a raspberry on her belly when _Yellow Submarine _came on, before she started to yawn and he figured he should put her to bed. He tucked her in to the lightweight, summer bedspread and kissed her on the forehead.

"Sweet dreams, sugar. I'll see you in the morning." Stiles smiled, leaving the door of her room cracked to let some light in.

Obviously, he checked his mobile phone as soon as he jumped back onto his bed. He had three missed alerts. Man, dancing to five Beatles songs really made him miss a lot!

1. Derek: "_Great. I have a few ideas in mind." _Hmm...he wondered vaguely what Derek had up his sleeve, halfheartedly hoping it was a hot air balloon ride.

2. Scott: "_FYI, Allison called Derek and interfered. NOT MY FAULT!" _Stiles had to laugh at that, because he really could have stopped her. But, it kind of made things funny. Sure, he wasn't really thrilled about the whole situation, but it'd be a funny thing to laugh about on their date.

3. Derek: "_How do you feel about seafood?"_

Stiles didn't know what to say first. He chose to reply to Derek first because he knew Scott's was less important. And mainly just less exciting. Plus, he wasn't going to get any prospective sex from Scott, thank god.

"_Love seafood. Can't wait." _Stiles replied, keeping it short and sweet for Derek, hoping the man hadn't gone to bed yet.

"_OMG why would she do that!_" Stiles typed out to Scott, not even bothering to go directly to Allison.

He heard his phone ring, grateful that he didn't have to have this conversation through messages. Talking on the phone was so much more efficient.

"Dude, how? What the hell? Why?" Stiles rambled, Scott already knowing the topic.

"I don't know man! She got this maniacal look in her eye and said something about how you and Derek were too ridiculous to figure out a day within this lifetime, so she called Derek and took the liberty upon herself to-" Stiles had to cut him off.

"Well, how did Derek sound? Was he mad? Was he insulted?" Stiles pressed, hoping that Scott had the decency to at least eavesdrop a little bit!

"They were laughing a lot, so I think it was fine." Stiles could practically see Scott shrugging through the phone. Huh. He thought for sure Derek would have been pissed.

"Well...that's good to know, I guess. Doesn't mean she's off the hook!" He warned, laughing a bit.

-00000-

…_Would you like to ride in my beautiful balloon? Would you like to ride in my beautiful balloon? We could float among the stars together, you and I. For we can fly!_

The 5th Dimension's _Up, Up, and Away _played over the whole sky for everyone to hear. Derek and Stiles stood side by side at the edge of the surprisingly huge hot air balloon, looking out and over the treetops. He couldn't believe they had the whole balloon to themselves. And that Derek knew how to control the contraption! They didn't even have a hot air balloon guide! It was really like the balloon had a mind of it's own and knew what to do since Derek and Stiles didn't have to touch anything. Which was for the best since Stiles would probably pop the damn thing with one touch and they'd go plummeting into the ground and die.

"Derek, this is perfect. The song is perfect, _you _are perfect." Stiles reached out and grabbed Derek's hand, intertwining their fingers.

"Glad you like it, it's very expensive." Derek said seriously, as the balloon started to descend towards their backyards. Once it landed in the middle of their yard, Derek pulled Stiles down below the edge of the basket, out of sight from the rest of the neighborhood. He cupped Stiles' face, bringing his lips closer and-

_BEEP BEEP BEEP_

Fuckin' alarm! Did that thing really have to go off just as the dream was getting to the good part? All he wanted to do was kiss Derek in that damn balloon. But no. He had to go to work. Even though the dream was incredibly dorky and cheesy, that didn't mean he wanted to cut it short!

Now that he thought about it, he didn't want Derek to take him on a hot air balloon ride. Ever. One fake, dreamt experience was enough for a lifetime.

But, today was Friday. The day of the date. He'd talked to Derek a little bit during the week, and all he got out of it was that he should wear something lightweight but maybe not sloppy looking. Whatever that meant. He called Lydia on his lunch break to ask her fashion opinion.

"So I don't know what to wear tonight." Stiles mentioned, after they'd already gotten through the obligatory _how are you's _and all that.

"Well, what's the occasion?" Lydia asked, needing a little bit more to go on!

"Um...a date with Derek." Stiles murmured, only a little bit shy about it.

Lydia gasped, "Oh my gosh, no way! This is great! Who asked who out?" Of course she'd need a story before the advice came.

"I think he started it, but I gave him a little push." Stiles proceeded to give her a play by play of the night in Derek's kitchen and all the other instances where flirting may have occurred, listening to her squeal with delight at certain points. He really missed talking to Lydia, not having had much time together lately with her schedule always so busy.

"Okay, so what does he have planned for tonight?" She asked, suddenly in serious mode.

"I'm not sure. The other day he asked if I liked seafood, so I figure maybe we'll be eating that... Then yesterday he said to wear something lightweight but he made it seem like it should be a little dressier. So like, do I wear shorts? I don't know!" Stiles threw his hands up, thankful that he had Lydia on speakerphone so that he didn't drop the phone.

"No! Do_ not _wear shorts. It's a date, doofus, you gotta look good. Do you have any linen pants? Or jeans that you won't get hot in? You'll probably be doing something outside since it _is _summer, so you won't want to get sweaty."

"Are you kidding_?_ Do you _really_ think I own linen pants?" He thought about it for a second. "You know what, I actually think I might have something along those lines. I'm not wearing _linen _pants though, they'll get too wrinkly!"

"I'll meet you at your house after work. What time will you be home?" Lydia didn't wait for a confirmation from Stiles, he didn't have a choice.

-00000-

A few hours later, Lydia and Stiles had pretty much gone through Stiles' entire clean wardrobe, coming up with a few viable options. Erica had tried to get him to wear the Hawaiian shirt, since it was funny, but he didn't want to be funny. He wanted to look _hot._ In the end, Lydia picked out a pair of fancy, twill chinos in a light brown color. He didn't even know he had them! He thought they made him look a little flamboyant since they were quite tight, but then he remembered he _was _gay so it was probably okay. And Derek would probably like the form fitted look. She paired it with a thin, turquoise button down and rolled the sleeves up to the elbows, giving him _sex appeal_. She even helped him with his hair, there being a little bit more than usual to style since he hadn't gotten it cut in a while.

"Lydia, you're awesome. Now you're gonna have to get the hell out of here so I can get this show on the road." Stiles laughed, nudging her through the doorway.

"Oh come on, I wanna see you guys head off!" Lydia folded her arms, giving him a hard time.

"No Mom, you just want to get a look at Derek!" Stiles laughed, walking down the stairs to look out the window, watching for Scott and Allison.

"Who's watching the kids?" Lydia asked, suddenly concerned.

"Allison and Scott should be here any minute." Stiles explained, with his hands through the blinds peering through the tiny opening like a stalker.

"You could have called me to watch Erica." Lydia pouted, almost sounding offended.

"Yeah I know that, but we needed a sitter for Isaac too." Stiles explained, like it was obvious.

"You know, I _am _capable of watching two children at a time." Lydia huffed, definitely offended now.

"I didn't say that you cou...I...look. I just didn't think about it. Allison's already the sitter, Scott just kind of goes hand in hand with her and knows the kids. And...I figured you'd probably be busy anyway." Stiles said finally, not meaning to sound rude.

Lydia took a large breath and didn't say anything for a second. "No, you're right. I haven't been available much lately. Can't really blame you for assuming I'd be unable. Just...I don't know. Just call me anyway? Even if you think I'd be busy. I'd rather turn you down than to have you think there isn't even a chance." Lydia gave a small smile, looking a little forlorn.

"Hey! You've got a busy job! You're amazing, you're beautiful and incredible. And blegh, maybe we both suck at communicating. Let's work on that-" Stiles started, trying to reassure her and make her less upset. He didn't want her to think of him as a bad guy!

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's enough of that. You can't go into your first date all heavyhearted and contemplative about our issues. Which aren't even bad issues anyway. Besides, maybe I'll just hang out here with Allison and Scott while you're gone!" Lydia smirked, suddenly having a bright idea.

"_Oh sure_, make yourself at home." What was he really going to say? No? Wasn't like she was some stranger he didn't trust in his house. Or like she had a bad influence on children. And he really couldn't deny her time with their daughter, even though Erica had spent quite a bit of time with her already this week.

"Eh, I might hang around for a bit. We'll see." Lydia chuckled, probably ready to go see Jackson or something.

"They're here!" He exclaimed, moving away from the window, trying to act natural.

"Well, let's go sit down." Lydia suggested, pulling Stiles down onto the couch nobody ever sits on. Hardly any time was spent in the front room, and for good reason. Because damn, this thing was uncomfortable. No wonder it was for decorative purposes only.

A moment later Scott and Allison were knocking on the door, letting themselves in. They didn't wait for Stiles to get the door anymore.

"Lydia! I thought I saw your car out there!" Allison squealed, running over to hug her friend.

"Yeah, Stiles couldn't figure out an outfit." Lydia laughed, shooting a glance at Stiles.

"Figures."

Ten minutes later, after Erica had settled in with her slew of sitters, the doorbell rang. And holy shit was he nervous. It was now or never.

Stiles answered the door to see Derek standing with Isaac, wearing practically the same outfit. Except Derek's pants were a bright, golden khaki color and his button down was white. Even with the sleeves rolled up. Stiles tried to suppress a laugh, and he succeeded mostly, but Derek caught him.

"You look nice." He acknowledged, nodding to Stiles' similar outfit.

"Thanks. I had Erica steal from your closet." Stiles giggled, stepping aside to let the man through. "So, there's three babysitters for the night. I hope that's enough to keep these troublemakers in line!"

"We'll be good!" Isaac obviously hadn't grasped the concept of sarcasm yet either. Eh, maybe when they were in high school.

"I thought it was just Scott and Allison?" Derek eyed him suspiciously.

"Lydia stopped by earlier, she's insisting on staying for a bit."

After all emergency contact numbers had been given, as if the sitters didn't already have their cell phone numbers, Derek and Stiles headed out of the house. It had begun. He hoped this shirt didn't show sweat stains, because he was seriously nervous.

"You look really nice too." Stiles admitted, after they were standing in the driveway. Derek blushed and said thank you, opening the passenger door to his Camaro for Stiles to get in. Who said chivalry was dead?

"We're not going to take your motorcycle?" Stiles laughed, soaking in the sexiness of Derek's sleek car. The sexiness of Derek. Because hot damn, that man knew how to clean up.

"No." Derek said simply, not clarifying whether he even _had _a motorcycle or not.

"Do you even have one?" Now he had to know.

"No." Derek laughed, starting the engine.

"Rats. I imagined you had one holed up in your garage under a tarp." Stiles chuckled, looking out the window nervously.

"I used to have one, before Isaac was born. Kate made me get rid of it." Derek stated, sounding a little bittersweet. Oh really? That was sexy. Although, supremely lame that he had to get rid of it.

"That's no fun. Couldn't be a hunky motorcyclist _and _a responsible father?" Stiles laughed, hoping the conversation didn't get to heavy into the Kate crap. He didn't want to talk about her.

"Yeah, something like that." Derek laughed, sounding a little uneasy, but Stiles didn't take it weirdly.

The two sat in silence for a few minutes as Derek drove. They were headed for the restaurant first, which was perfect because Stiles was _starving. _Derek turned on the radio and Stiles was happy to see he had left it on the classic rock station. Doobie Brothers came on and he couldn't help but smile as Derek tapped his hand on the steering wheel to the beat of the music, only singing a little bit under his breath.

He pulled into a nice restaurant, one that had excellent seafood and even better steak. And _amazing _bread. He couldn't wait for the bread. Surprisingly Derek had made a reservation, which was nice considering there was a short wait for a table. The hostess led them to their table, a quiet one near a corner.

"It feels so bizarre to be out of the house without Erica or Scott." Stiles mused, peering at the menu.

"I know what you mean. It'll probably be good for us." Derek laughed, focused on the wine list. "What sort of drink are you in the mood for?"

Stiles thought about it, but he really didn't have a craving or preference. Derek ended up ordering a glass of Cabernet and Stiles figured he may as well get the same thing.

"I'm not one of those people that has to have the perfect, matching wine with their dinner." Stiles mentioned, taking a sip of his red wine, really enjoying the quality taste. "Like, I don't care if white wine goes better with fish or like...red wine goes better with pasta. Or whatever!"

"I'm the same way. I'll drink a glass of red wine with a hot dog and could careless if they went together or not. Well...maybe not a _hot dog, _that actually does seem like a nasty combination,but you know what I mean." Derek laughed, ripping off a hunk of bread and dipping it in the olive oil concoction.

Their silences weren't awkward, but the two didn't strain themselves to run their mouths the entire time. Stiles really thought he was doing a good job of controlling his thoughts, knowing that he could have asked Derek a plethora of unnecessary questions by now.

"Everyone was like '_it's about time!' _when they figured out we were going on this date." Stiles mentioned, taking a bite of his fish.

"Same with my sister. She couldn't believe we waited this long." Oh, so _he_ went spreading it around to his sister then griped on Stiles for mentioning it to Scott! That turd. But, that must mean he talked about Stiles to his sister on more than one occasion... And it probably meant he had a crush on Stiles for a while too! Score!

"You're barely even moved in! Even now I'm worried it's too soon! I didn't want to bombard you with that. Not that I didn't want to go out with you from the minute you moved in...but..." Stiles just stopped there. He didn't need to give Derek all the details of his fantasizing month.

"Is that why you've been so nice to me?" Derek smirked, his lips stained purple from the wine. Stiles wondered if he'd taste like wine too, or just have booze breath. Either way he wanted to bite that lower lip.

"Yeah, if you were ugly you'd have had to find someone else in the neighborhood to hang around with. Maybe the neighbors on the other side of your house are nice." Stiles laughed, always a complete goof on first dates. Maybe if he was lucky, this would be his last first date. He should savor the moments.

"I'm glad to know how shallow you are." Derek shook his head, chuckling.

"Good to get it out in the open now."

The two went back and forth with their banter, really relaxing and letting loose. Especially after the second glass of wine. He found out many things about Derek that he never thought he'd know before. Like that his favorite color was blue, even though everyone thought it was red.

"Everyone's always getting me red things, and I try to tell them that I'm not even that keen on the color in general. But they don't listen. So I've got a closet full of red sweaters and shirts that I'll never wear."

"Red's my favorite!" Stiles laughed, letting the waiter take his plate away.

"Good, you can have them then. Are you interested in red throw pillows?" Derek laughed, grinning at Stiles like he loved him already. Stiles had a feeling he didn't move _that _fast though. He wondered if Derek really would give him the red sweaters. But, he didn't want the pillows. He just wanted to see Derek's bedroom.

Stiles found out that Derek used to want to be a clown when he was a kid, but the clown nose bothered him so he threw that aspiration into the trash and moved on to wanting to be a chef. Not even on the same spectrum!

"Yeah, then I found out I couldn't cook so that idea had to go." Derek handed the bill to the waiter, indicating he was all set, having paid in all cash.

"I used to want to be a comic book writer until I found out I had no skills in art _at all." _Stiles only seemed a little sad about the fact, mainly worried about the next part of their date.

"So, what now?" Stiles asked as they got back into the car. This time Stiles had to open the door for himself, which he was perfectly capable of doing.

"You can decide, we're either going to ride the go-karts or play miniature golf." Derek laughed nervously, hoping that his idea didn't stink.

"Awesome!" Stiles thought both ideas sounded like a great time, he just didn't know which one to pick. "Let's go with the golf."

"Good decision. That's what I wanted to do."

Stiles didn't bother to mention that he chose it because he wanted to look at Derek's ass as he bent over holding that tiny little putt-putt club. And that it would take longer than go-karting so that meant the date lasted longer.

Derek insisted on paying for Stiles' admission, even though Stiles tried to thrust his money at the girl behind the counter. "Sorry cutie, you do not get to pay."

Derek was surprisingly awful at miniature golf, going way over par on the first three holes. Stiles wasn't much better. And as predicted, Derek's ass looked _amazing _in his pants while bending over. And while standing. And walking. Pretty much from all angles. He could stand to look at the crotch too, he supposed.

Stiles playfully tried to trip Derek with his club on the eighth hole, earning a glare and a payback smack on the butt, causing Stiles to jump ten feet in the air from the shock."You deserve that."

"I suppose." Stiles just wanted to push him up against the replica of a rock mountain and molest Derek's face, but there were impressionable teenagers around. Plus, he had a feeling Derek wasn't the biggest PDA fan, even though he _did _just smack Stiles' butt. But there was a difference between butt slaps and making out in public.

He couldn't believe how goofy Derek could behave. He'd seen Derek while drunk, definitely having a playful side, but he figured he'd be a little more reserved sober in public. He didn't expect Derek to chase Stiles around, trying to get his ball out of Stiles' grip.

"Give me that!" Derek demanded, trying to catch his date. Once he had Stiles cornered, they had a pretty sexy opportunity. Derek pried the ball from Stiles' hands, their faces pretty damn close. He could feel Derek's hot breath on his face, his eyes exceptionally horny looking, staring right at Stiles' mouth. If only this were a good moment for their first kiss. Because it really wasn't. Not when a group of bratty looking teens were waiting their turn to play the hole. Stiles just wanted to play with Derek's hole. And oh my god, he needed to focus.

He wasn't going home without a kiss.

-00000-

_A/n: And it wouldn't be my style if I didn't just leave you hanging in the middle of a scene! But really, its at 5000 words and I just want to post it before I go to bed. I'm not the happiest with the date scene so far...but maybe I'll like part II more. Real action in the next chapter, I guarantee!_


	11. Chapter 11

**Can't Swim**

_A/n: Ahh! I can't thank you guys enough. You all are AWESOME!_

_Sorry for the longer than usual delay! I don't really have any time on weekends to update, and it's been a super busy/rubbish week. Don't worry though, shouldn't become a pattern! I hope this chapter is up to par. Not as long as some of them, but I wanted to get it up before I lost my chance!_

**Chapter Eleven: **

"Are they expecting us back by a certain time?" Derek asked, driving down a scenic road that took them towards their houses, only a little out of the way. Stiles liked that he was trying to take as much time as possible on their date, not rushing to end it.

"I told them by midnight probably." Stiles laughed, actually wondering if Scott would reprimand him for showing up past midnight.

"Okay, Cinderella." Derek said with a small chuckle, focusing on driving, taking a right turn down a seemingly random road.

Stiles scowled, "It's not like an actual _curfew _or anything. I'm sure if we show up by 12:05 we'll be okay!"

Derek laughed easily and eventually drove them up to well lit park, still full of people so it wasn't creepy to be wandering alone. Stiles figured he'd probably be okay in the hands of this strong, burly man if something peculiar were to happen in the dark, anyway. And he'd probably even allow it if Derek were to flip a switch and try to rape him in a secluded area. Unless it wasn't sexy. Unless it was like a_ real_ rape. Then he'd probably be scared. And he _really _didn't know how his thought process led him to thinking Derek might _rape _him in a safe, public park, but he definitely needed to backtrack and stop the idiotic nonsense. Derek was a nice, strapping, respectable _good _man. He opened the car door for him for fuck's sake! _But _then again_, _weren't serial killers and rapists usually the charming type that lured you in with their good looks and then tied you up when least expected?

Stiles really needed that medical examination. Maybe he should just go ahead and admit himself to an institution.

"Want to go for a walk?" Derek asked, glancing towards the brick paved pathway that looked quite nice.

Stiles agreed, stepping out the car. He briefly wondered if Derek would hold his hand, but didn't get his hopes up. That was probably second date material. The path of the park would lead them right back to their car, so strolling absently would be acceptable, no chance of getting lost.

"I just can't get over how nice your butt looks in those pants." Stiles admitted, blatantly staring at Derek's ass.

Derek let out a masculine giggle and stuck his butt out purposely, wiggling it a bit as he continued to walk. Stiles probably started to drool, but he didn't let Derek become aware of his appreciation.

"Hold up, there's a rock in my shoe or something." Stiles asked, hobbling over to a park bench and sitting down. Derek sat down with him, much closer than Stiles would have imagined since he _was _taking off his shoe...and he didn't know what sort of odors could emit from that! Not that he ever even wore these shoes, they probably smelled fine, but that was really beside the point.

Stiles dumped his shoe, and as predicted a small, barely visible pebble dropped out, which surprised him because it felt like a huge rock! Derek turned his head towards Stiles' as he replaced the shoe on his foot, hoping to utilize this moment.

Stiles turned his torso towards Derek's, peering into his gorgeous green eyes ready to lean in for the kill. He had his lips parted and wanting, eighty percent of the way there, when he saw a humungous Saint Bernard out of the corner of his eye. Taking a huge dump. Probably amounting to the size of a small baby. Expelling the most foul stench he'd ever smelled from dog poop in his life. He couldn't kiss Derek with the putrid scent of dog shit in the background!

Stiles turned away, receiving a puzzled and dejected look from Derek, until realization set in and he scrunched his face up in disgust also. "Really? Did the dog have to do that right _here_?"

"Dog's gotta go when he's gotta go." Stiles shrugged, jumping up from the bench, mildly disappointed but knew that the night wasn't over yet.

He heard a lady running towards her dog, calling out for O'Malley, who obviously had run off on his own. Stiles swore that dog intentionally interrupted their moment. Dogs were smart. Maybe the dog was homophobic.

"Let's just keep walking, turd." Derek snatched Stiles' hand, pulling him back onto the pathway. Stiles waited to gauge the situation before he made a mistake like hastily pulling his hand away too soon or leaving it there for too long.

Derek didn't take his hand away.

The two continued to walk down the path, hand in hand, completely blissful. Stiles awkwardly admired the stars twinkling in the dark blue sky and tried not to let his hand get too clammy from nervousness.

"Do you prefer cats or dogs?" Stiles asked out of the blue, his mind on animals after the dog poop smell snafu.

Derek contemplated it for a second, swinging the arm connected to Stiles' back and forth and settled on cats. "You'd think I'd like dogs more because of the whole wolf thing, but I really just like cats because they're pretty laid back. At least all the ones I've come across. You don't have to take them outside to walk them or use a pooper scooper in the yard...I mean they do have a litter box...but they're just easier to me."

"And so fuzzy!" Stiles exclaimed like an excited child hearing the ice cream truck, only a little embarrassed with himself.

"I've actually been thinking of getting one. So Isaac can have a pet. I don't have the patience for a dog right now, and I think Isaac would like something to cuddle with at night."

"So would I." Stiles blurted without even thinking. Holy shit! Did he really just say that? He needed to come up with a cover, stat! "I mean, like...we don't have any pets either."

"Uh huh. Right." Like Derek could be fooled. Oh well, they _were _on a date. So it really wasn't like Derek was blind to Stiles' attraction to the man. Not like he was ready to admit that he wanted to snuggle at night, though!

"We had a hamster once, but that thing was nocturnal and annoying as shit. We had to keep it in the bathroom at night so it wouldn't keep us up running on that damn wheel." Stiles laughed, reminiscing about the old pet.

"What happened to it?" Derek asked, staring at Stiles like he thought he murdered the poor thing.

"Died. Not sure. Those things don't last long sometimes." Stiles shrugged.

Stiles couldn't help but realize that their hands were still together. Their fingers weren't intertwined or anything, that was probably official boyfriend and boyfriend stuff, but Derek held on tightly like he didn't plan on letting go. Stiles had a feeling that this man was a keeper.

With the car in sight, Stiles' heart sank a little knowing the date would have to come to a close. If he didn't get a second date out of this he would probably never leave his house again. He'd be crushed and would have to resort to online web cam dating. It didn't look likely to turn that way, but hey! Everyone had their insecurities.

"I hope the kids are behaving." Derek mused, pulling into the subdivision.

"I'm sure they're bouncing off the walls with Scott and Allison ripping their own hair out. I mean, Isaac and Erica are pretty rambunctious kids!" Stiles laughed, checking the floor of the car to make sure nothing fell out of his pockets.

Derek laughed nervously, like he didn't really believe Stiles' sarcasm. Maybe Isaac had a whole other personality inside the walls of his own home. Maybe he really was a wild child. Or maybe Derek just wanted to pull Stiles onto his porch out of sight from his friends next door in his own house.

Derek had Stiles in a position he couldn't get away from. Stiles wouldn't be able to jump off the side of the porch if he turned around because Derek could grab him! He wouldn't be able to just walk down the step and into the yard because Derek could grab him. In all actuality, Derek already had his hands positioned on Stiles' waist, basically holding him captive on the porch. Guess he had no choice and was going to have to endure the moment and be kissed.

YES.

Stiles let out a breath he didn't know he had been holding and let Derek take the lead. He never noticed how long Derek's eyelashes were before, the way they canopied his moss green eyes as he looked down at Stiles' mouth. All the girls were probably jealous. Stiles didn't even have time to brace himself because now they were kissing. Stiles really hoped he didn't have onion breath, even though he hadn't eaten any of those today. But Derek didn't seem to be turned off. Quite the opposite in fact. He took a moment to appreciate how Derek's lips were full and lush, not chapped at all, and absolutely perfect. Stiles could probably go ahead and kiss him forever, taking breaks only for air and to use the bathroom. And he supposed they could break to feed Erica and Isaac, because he nearly forgot about them in this glorious moment.

"I've had a really great time tonight." Derek said softly, bringing Stiles closer to him by the waist. If Derek pulled him any closer he might just bust through his pants and poke him with his growing erection. It had been a while since he'd had any action and he couldn't control it!

"I agree." Stiles smiled, leaning his head in to go for another peck on the lips. He wanted to shove his tongue in there, but maybe they could do that tomorrow. Derek nibbled lightly on Stiles' bottom lip, which came as a complete surprise, therefore Stiles pinched him on the butt. Derek thrust his hips forward in reaction to the pinch, his crotch coming in dangerously close to Stiles' own crotch.

"I suppose we better end this before I take you inside and rip your clothes off." Derek sighed, pulling away slightly, still close enough to kiss again.

Stiles didn't want to agree, he certainly wanted Derek to take him inside and have his way, but it was getting rather late and the babysitters probably wanted to go home themselves. He glanced at his watch, it only being 11:45. He couldn't believe how fast the night flew by!

"Allllll right. If you insist." Stiles pouted, hoping he looked adorable. Derek smirked, chuckling softly, so Stiles figured he succeeded in that department.

"I guess we better go over there." Derek motioned his head towards Stiles' house.

They walked over across the lawn, hands apart this time, and Stiles opened the door. The house was fairly quiet. He figured the kids were asleep, or close to it at least.

Scott and Allison were cuddled up on the couch, watching an infomercial about a juicer. Stiles had seen this one before. The juicer looked like so much fun! And also like something he'd never use.

"Hey guys." Stiles greeted, knocking them out of their stupor.

"Back already?" Scott yawned, glancing at his watch. "Oh, guess it has been quite a while."

"Have fun?" Allison asked. Stiles really hoped Derek wasn't embarrassed.

"No, not really. I wanted to strangle myself the whole time." Derek laughed, nudging Stiles on the shoulder.

"Yeah, I think I'm going to move away. I can't live next to this boring guy any longer." Stiles chuckled, rolling his eyes.

Stiles didn't go into details of their date, that was something Stiles could tell them about without the topic of discussion standing in the room. Apparently the kids were sleeping upstairs, curled up next to each other in Erica's full size bed.

"You don't have to wake him up." Stiles shrugged, not wanting to disrupt Isaac's sleep.

"Okay. I'm sure I'll see him sometime tomorrow when he wants to go to the pool anyway." Derek laughed, retreating towards the door to go home.

"Oh yeah, it's Saturday tomorrow. Almost forgot. I'm sure we'll be there too!" Stiles laughed, already nervous about seeing Derek in his swim shorts tomorrow. Now that he knew what those lips tasted like he'd probably fall all over himself trying to act naturally.

And now that they'd gone on a date, would it be awkward? He doubted it. If he were in any way honest with himself, nothing would probably change. They'd both just lay there on the chairs and watch their kids swim in near silence. And Stiles wouldn't swim and neither would Derek. Stiles really wanted to swim with Derek, splash him in the eyes and play with him in the water, but he didn't know how well that would go over. He had a feeling some of the moms in the community were a little square and would disapprove of two dads showing playful affection in a neighborhood pool. Oh well!

They'd just have to play in the shower instead.


	12. Chapter 12

**Can't Swim**

_A/n: Thank you all for the love and support! It never gets old and definitely helps with the motivation (and ego)! _

_Sorry for the delay! Been a super busy week paired with a mild case of writers block. Also! My computer decided to crash or restart itself or whatever in the middle of writing this (twice!) so I lost some of it! I think. I'm a little irked, but my laptop is a piece of shit so really not surprised. Hope I didn't lose any of the good bits, but I honestly can't remember!_

**Chapter Twelve:**

Holy hell, what an incredible night. Derek had gone, now he just needed to kick Scott and Allison out so he could jump around joyously without any witnesses. Of course, they wanted to discuss the date now that Derek had walked home, but he really would prefer to squeal about it on his own. This would be a night that he would want to gush about in a journal. If he had a journal. Maybe he should get a journal so he could go on and on about Derek's perfect eyebrows and perfect car so he could remember their perfect date _forever. _

It'd probably go basically like this: _Dear Diary,_ _Derek and I FINALLY went on a date. We went for dinner and stuff. I pretty much forced the guy to be my friend and stared at him until he felt a mutual attraction to me. I don't think I've ever seen someone so ridiculously good looking in real life – disregarding that time I saw the Jean Jacket Guy at the Green Day concert last year, because if I ever had one regret in life it would be not_ _talking to the guy in the jean jacket with the awesome butt... Anyways! Derek is GORGEOUS. Like I'm not sure he's even real. But we KISSED and ugh, it was amaaaaazzzing. So he's definitely real. Blah blah blah I hope we go out forever, I'm never going to get someone hotter. Then Erica can have a brother because Derek has a son who his absolutely adorable. And I'm never going to get someone hotter. Ugh, I can't wait til we have sex. I hope he has a big dick. With my luck it'll be small because I couldn't possibly have someone this hot _and _have a large penis. Did I mention his amazing car?_

Nope. He was never going to write in a journal. Boring!

Before he headed up to bed, he popped in on Erica and Isaac. The two were sprawled across the large bed, consumed by the blankets, drooling on the pillows. They must have fallen asleep playing Twister in the bed, because their arms and legs were contorted at impossible angles, it didn't look very comfortable at all! He swiftly decided he needed to capture the moment on camera and whipped out his phone to document the image. He sent the photograph to Derek, subconsciously hoping to spark some sort of domestic nerve and get him thinking about a future together. Because all normal people thought that far in advance after a first date. And it wasn't creepy at all to imagine combining their families. Not forwardly creepy in the slightest. But who was he kidding, Derek probably wouldn't even think about it from that angle.

"_Cute. So glad they get along." _Derek responded, record-breakingly fast.

"_It is nice, isn't it. Had a great time tonight. G'night D." _Stiles didn't want to get into a texting conversation right now, but he did want to clarify how much fun he had.

"_Can't wait to go out again. Night cutie." _Derek just knew how to make Stiles smile, didn't he?

-000000-

"Dad, dad!" Stiles groaned into the pillow, the sound of his daughter's voice killing his ears. Did she always sound this shrill? "Dad, it's Saturday!" Her point?

"Mmgh. Sleep." Stiles grunted, rolling over towards the wall. He didn't care what time it was, it felt like he had only been asleep for an hour. He couldn't fall asleep last night til almost two thirty, having been too giddy about the date, rolling around thinking about Derek's jawline and knees. Why his knees? Why not. Derek had nice knees. Stiles had seen his fair share of unattractive knees, covered in dry patches and all knobbly. Derek definitely had been blessed.

"C'mon Dad, it's almost noon. We want to go swimming!" Erica pleaded, although retreating towards the door.

Noon? Really? Ugh. He supposed he could stumble out of bed then. "I'll be down in a few. Is Isaac still here?"

"No, he went home. But we're going to the pool!"

"Is-" He didn't even get to ask before Erica started talking again.

"Isaac said his dad said they're going at twelve thirty."

And now he had to see Derek first thing in the morning? Fuck! He hoped he hadn't sprouted a horn on his forehead or a ginormous pimple on the tip of his nose overnight. He reluctantly jumped out of bed, telling Erica he'd be ready in a bit. He needed to shower first to wash the long night of masturbation off, and mainly so he'd still look dateable to Derek. After he cleaned up he needed to track down his best bathing suit. The black one. Black was slimming, right? He ate too many girl scout cookies he found in the back of the pantry before bed and was feeling a little pudgy. Because obviously a pair of black shorts that hung below the belly and waistline were really going to hide the evidence from that cookie binge.

After he felt he couldn't possibly look any better for sitting at the pool only to ultimately end up covered in sweat, he went to find Erica who was seated at the bottom of the stairs by the front door, waiting. She jumped up and practically busted through the door, apparently very eager to swim today. What was the big hurry?

"Hold on, I need something to eat before we go." He couldn't sit in the sun on an empty stomach!

Erica didn't complain too much, just huffed and closed the door, following her dad into the kitchen.

"Have you had anything to eat today?" He asked, not going to allow her to run around hungry. Erica shook her head. Stiles couldn't believe the kid could have so much energy without any food in her stomach!

He quickly whipped up some eggs and toast to tie them over, listening to Erica tell him about her night before. Apparently Scott and Allison had taken them out for ice cream. And when Scott stubbed his toe, he spilled his ice cream all down the front of his shirt from surprise. No surprise there, Scott had about as much grace as a toddler learning to walk. He couldn't really focus on her story, he was starting to get nervous about seeing Derek again.

They walked to the pool in a daze, arriving almost instantly. He barely remembered walking there. Seriously, did they move the pool closer to his house? He spotted Derek almost immediately with cheap, dorky sunglasses covering his dreamy eyes. He dressed like such a dad when he wasn't in 'date mode.' He didn't know how he could be attracted to someone who dressed so dowdy with a face and body so godly. Because that's when he noticed the horrendous, faded, canary yellow swim shorts he had on. Could he have picked an uglier color? And they seemed a little too small for him. Maybe he wore them on purpose to expose more of his thighs. Unlikely. Yet despite all that, somehow Derek managed to make them look like something out of GQ.

Isaac was splashing around in the water, playing with another boy in the neighborhood. Erica looked a little jealous and eager to join the two kids, but she didn't resist when Stiles insisted on smearing sunscreen all over her. And now he had to face Derek. He couldn't stall any longer.

"Hey," Stiles greeted, slipping onto the chair next to Derek. He pushed the sunglasses up over his eyes drowsily, probably having closed his eyes for a second.

"Oh, hey you." Derek smiled as bright as the sun, sitting up in his chair a bit higher to be more alert.

"Were you sleeping? Tsk tsk, Isaac could be drowning!" Stiles laughed, teasing him. Like Derek would opt to fall asleep purposely instead of watching his son.

"Shut up." Derek sneered sarcastically, only a little embarrassed. "And I wasn't sleeping. Just...oh I don't have to explain anything!"

Stiles didn't know how to act now. He wanted to scoot Derek over and join him on the tiny lounge chair and devour his face, but that probably wouldn't go over too well. And besides, were they even at the point of kissing whenever they wanted? Did they need to go out a few more times before they could start kissing randomly throughout the day? He didn't know the protocol. He had a feeling that Derek wouldn't oppose to any spontaneous kisses, but he didn't want to take the chance.

"So..." Stiles said awkwardly, bobbing his head with his lips pursed a little. Oh my god, he didn't know what to do! And he was certain he looked mightily stupid.

"Do you guys want to come over for dinner tonight?" Derek blurted, equally as nervous as Stiles. He didn't understand what the big deal was? They'd already gone on a date, they saw each other several times a week... He supposed he answered his own question. It had been so long since he'd been on a date he forgot about the butterflies and the failing at trying to act cool and all that delightful stuff.

"Yeah! That'd be great." Stiles smiled, hoping he didn't look like a deranged serial killer.

"Cool. I think we're gonna do brats." Derek shrugged, trying to loosen up.

"Those are always good!"

Holy crap, he didn't want to be here. He didn't want to be sitting by the pool with a bunch of families nearby. How was he supposed to control himself? Especially with a freaking sex god sitting right next to him with those damn thighs showing. He may as well have been wearing Isaac's shorts, because those were definitely not long enough for shit. He wouldn't be surprised if Derek stood up and his dick fell out of the bottom. Not that he'd complain...

Okay they weren't _that _short. But was that really the point?

-0000000-

"_Store trip. Want to join? If not, can Erica come with us?" _Derek texted later on, after they'd been home from the pool for a while.

He didn't want to text. He could get this conversation over with in two minutes if he just called Derek instead. Derek seemed surprised when he picked up, but not put off.

"Yeah, I'll join you guys. It'll be fun. When you planning on leaving?" Stiles asked, checking his watch.

"Probably in a few minutes. Gotta grab a couple things for dinner."

And Stiles really just wanted to hear Derek's voice. "That's cool, just honk or something and I'll run outside."

"All right, see you in ten?" Derek asked wearily, as if Stiles had a whole afternoon of activities to juggle around in order to make time for the store.

That dork.

Stiles went upstairs and sprayed on some cologne, nothing wrong with wanting to smell good, and made sure he didn't have any rips on his butt or boogers in his nose. So far so good! And approximately eight minutes later, not that he was counting or anything, Derek honked his horn. And it just made Stiles think of how much he really wanted to ride Derek in the backseat of his car one day.

Derek was waiting in his driveway with the windows rolled down, fumbling with the radio. Stiles hopped in the passenger seat and greeted the kids in the back.

"Dad, let's listen to that CD!" Isaac asked vaguely, obviously hoping Derek could read minds. Stiles wondered what sort of crap children's music was on the CD. Probably junk like Disney songs and Raffi. Well, actually he _liked _Disney songs...

Apparently Derek knew exactly what CD Isaac was talking about and instantly Spin Doctor's _Two Princes _came on. The kids didn't know the lyrics, but they sure liked to dance! Stiles turned around and smiled as Isaac and Erica waved there arms around in the air, bobbing their heads up and down to the beat of the music. Only a little off beat.

The ride to the store didn't take nearly that long, the whole time spent animatedly singing their hearts out to hits from the 1990s. Stiles nearly had a heart attack when Derek started singing along perfectly to Savage Garden's _I Want You, _because damn, those lyrics were hard. And Stiles had a feeling he had the whole thing memorized and practiced periodically.

The four entered the grocery store like a family, Stiles tried not to gush about the extremely adorable nature of it all while Derek grabbed a cart. Stiles tried to keep an eye on the kids while Derek put various items into the cart, but he had a hard time averting his eyes from Derek's ass as he moseyed along the aisles. And he couldn't disregard those perfect shoulders either!

Isaac and Erica were having a field day once they entered the cereal aisle, literally trying to put every brand of cereal into the cart. Even the gross healthy ones. There was no way Isaac liked Fiber One.

"If you touch one more thing I'm calling security!" Derek threatened, thankful that kids didn't understand jokes. Immediately, both Isaac and Erica ceased their grabbing and threw their hands behind their backs guiltily.

Stiles figured Derek deserved a good pinch on the butt for that one. Derek startled slightly in surprise, turning around to face Stiles with an expression of pure torture. "Are you trying to get me all excited in the middle of the store?"

"Maybe..." Stiles grinned sheepishly.

"Well don't." Derek smirked, tossing a box of Honey Nut Cheerios into the cart. Yep, they were definitely going to make out tonight. It was decided.

-000000-

After Derek burned the bratwurst slightly and they'd finished eating, the kids decided they wanted to get out the slip and slide again. Derek and Stiles figured they could just watch from the patio, definitely not in the mood to get wet again. Both much in need of some _adult time._

"Do you want another drink?" Derek asked, getting up from his chair. He motioned towards Stiles empty glass, the lime wedge sitting lifeless under all the ice.

"Um, yeah. I can get it!" Stiles tried to get up, but Derek wouldn't have it.

"Nonsense, I'll be right back." Derek laughed, taking Stiles' cup.

Stiles then noticed Derek's covered loveseat swing on the side of the patio. Hmm... Yeah he was definitely going to sit there. And then Derek would _have _to sit next to him and they could cuddle or something. Touch thighs. Whatever beginner daters did.

Stiles rocked the swing slowly, glad it was situated with a good view of the kids who were having the time of their life. They didn't seem like they planned on going back inside any time soon. Which meant more alone time with Derek.

"Here ya are!" Derek declared cheerfully, handing Stiles his glass of vodka. Which definitely had a healthy amount of booze in it. Damn, this guy was going to kick his ass one of these days with his heavy hand!

Derek sat down next to Stiles relatively close, not sitting on each others laps or anything. Stiles took a big gulp of his drink, choking from the burn of the alcohol, and nervously held onto his cup. Derek laughed apprehensively, obviously in the same boat of unease.

Derek put his cup down onto the ground and looked intently at Stiles. Uh oh. This was it. The second kiss. It had to be it. Stiles waited expectantly, not putting his own glass down in case he got a little handsy. He needed to stay in control. Except they weren't even kissing yet.

"You seriously have the greatest eyes." Derek blurted randomly, looking away.

"Why thank you, they were very expensive." Stiles laughed, wishing they could just skip the talking bits. And what a lame joke!

"Uh huh, sure." Derek laughed, disregarding the jokes quality and returned his gaze to Stiles' face.

Fuck it. Stiles didn't have the patience to wait for Derek to make the next move. He leaned in, his drink situated awkwardly in his lap with condensation dampening his hands, and closed the gap between their lips. Derek growled hungrily, taking the glass from Stiles' hands and placed it on the ground by their feet. So much for hand control. Stiles was then able to put his hand on Derek's thigh, scooting his butt a little closer to kiss at an easier angle.

And jeez Derek had thin lips, but they felt amazing. He could overlook that fact. Stiles shoved his tongue in, battling it with Derek's and licked the roof of his mouth. Stiles wondered how his mouth would feel wrapped around his dick. No doubt incredible. Derek let out some sort of inaudible moan, which probably wasn't meant to be heard, and wrapped his arms around Stiles' back grabbing hold of Stiles' shirt, pulling him closer. Yep, Stiles could get used to this.

"I think our parents like each other." _Fuck_. Was that Erica's voice?

Stiles and Derek immediately pulled away, brushing off the front of their shirts dramatically like nothing had happened. Oh my god, how mortifying! He wondered how much they'd seen.

"What's up?" Derek asked, looking at Isaac and trying not to blush.

"We're going to go watch a movie." Isaac declared, stifling a giggle.

"Um...okay, have fun." He let himself fall back into the chair, defeated. Derek threw his hands over his eyes, obviously very distressed. Didn't he know that kids were guaranteed to ruin countless moments?

"Shit." Stiles said finally, after the kids were out of sight.

Derek glanced down at his crotch, obviously harboring a fresh boner under the zipper. "I...uh...gah." Derek grunted, completely frustrated.

"Do you think Isaac will be traumatized?" Stiles asked, suddenly concerned.

"No. Well, I don't know. I think he's a secret romantic. He tried to set me up with his teacher before we moved." Derek laughed, reminiscing, suddenly looking a little more relaxed.

"She must have been great then!" Stiles laughed, wondering if Erica felt weird.

"Well, _he _was all right. Not really my taste." Derek confirmed, blushing. Oh really? So did Derek like men _a lot _then?He _was _married to Kate previously, a girl, so he must have felt some attraction towards women, too. Nonetheless, he hoped the women liking aspect wasn't very large, just for his own benefit.

"Do you think we're moving too fast?" Derek asked abruptly while Stiles was lost in thought.

"No? Are you worried about it?" Stiles answered hesitantly. Did Derek want to take things _slower_? He seriously hoped not. If that was the case, Stiles could just forget about ever getting laid.

"No, I'm not worried...it's just...I haven't dated anyone in a while. I forget what's normal." Derek admitted, shrugging his shoulders. He picked his drink up off the deck and took a large swig. Stiles liked his thinking! He grabbed his own drink and took a big sip of his own. Booze helped everything. Especially awkward situations.

"I don't think there is a right or wrong way. I mean, we didn't sleep with each other on the first date so we can scratch off _slutty _from the list of worries...Our kids already like each other so we don't have to worry about bringing home a person that they would disapprove of. Well, actually I think Isaac could careless what_ I_ was like as long as he got to play with Erica... I don't know! I think we're moving at a pretty good pace." Stiles rambled, hoping Derek understood his train of thought.

"Yeah, you're right. Hah, do you think it'd be frowned upon if I took you up to my bedroom right now and we left the kids unsupervised?" Derek laughed nervously, like he hoped he hadn't creeped Stiles out with his honesty. Even if he was being sarcastic.

"Probably. _I _wouldn't object, but we probably should wait til they go to sleep." Stiles winked, not that he really did feel ready to bang Derek _tonight. _Sure he wanted too, but he didn't actually want to rush into things.

"Well cool, I'm glad we're on the same page or...whatever." Derek had no idea what he was doing, did he?

"Let's go inside so the kids don't get any more suspicious." Stiles suggested, making sure to take his drink in with him.

Inside the kids were watching Ratatouille, curled up on the sofa next to each other like brother and sister. Stiles tried not to cry because the scene was just too cute. He and Derek couldn't break up because it would just crush the children!

"Scoot over, bud." Derek demanded, having Isaac make room for him on the couch. Stiles didn't know where to sit. He wanted to sit by Derek and cuddle, but he figured since the kids _just _caught them, he should probably sit next to his own daughter.

"Are you guys gonna be boyfriends?" Isaac asked, craning his neck to look at his father expectantly.

Derek choked on his drink, nearly spitting it all over. "I...uh, yeah. Yeah? Is that okay?"

Oh really? Were they boyfriend and boyfriend then? He seriously hoped so. He liked the way Derek didn't sound confident but took charge and made an assumption. He was lucky Stiles felt the same way! And it actually sounded like he was addressing the question towards either Isaac or Stiles. Either way Stiles approved.

"Yeah, that's good. I like Stiles. And Erica, too." Isaac declared, turning his attention back to the movie.

Blegh. Stiles just wanted this awkward day to end. Sure, it was _amazing _getting that second kiss and all and just spending a great day together...but overall really awkward! It was probably all his own fault. Stiles had a reputation for making things weirder than necessary.

He really just wanted the kids to go to bed so he could molest Derek on his couch.

-00000000-

_A/n: Not sure how much longer this story will be, don't think I'm going to drag it out much longer, but we'll see! Probably just a couple more chapters. It really depends! It's a mystery! I have another story idea to start as soon as this one is finished, so if you like my style...maybe my next story will be of interest to you. Haha! :P_

_I wanted to get this up earlier today, but was totally distracted by tumblr. Ugh. It's so addicting. I think a lot of you have already followed me! How fun! So, if you're interested in the random things that I post, my url is garbageandmusings._

_Until next time!_


	13. Chapter 13

**Can't Swim**

_A/n: You guys are incredible! So thrilled to have your endless support and to be able to read your wonderful comments. You sure know how to make me smile. Love you all!_

_And SOOOO so sorry for the wait! I know it's been over a month. Been a very busy (and exceptionally crummy) month for me in real life! Hope you haven't forgotten about me! :-P_

**Chapter Thirteen:**

"Dude, you never called!" Scott complained over the phone on Sunday morning. Fuck. Oh yeah. Stiles totally forgot about that. Big whoop.

"Sorry man, got tied up." Stiles apologized lamely. It wasn't really that big of a deal anyway. It wasn't like Scott needed Stiles to reassure their friendship every day, he'd survive without a daily update.

"He _tied you up ? _Isn't it a little early for that?" Scott laughed, suddenly over his irritation and onto cracking jokes. Which Stiles totally wasn't in the mood for. But he'd play along anyway since that's just what he did with his life.

"Yeah, that's what _I_ thought! Then he left me tied to the bed for three and a half hours while he took the kids to the zoo." Stiles said dryly, rolling his eyes. Scott would probably believe this nonsensical bullshit.

"Are you serious?" _Really?_ As predicted, he ate it up. Scott was so gullible sometimes, jeez!

"Oh my god, no! Freaking pervert. I did spend most of the day with him, though." Stiles swooned, daydreaming about his _boyfriend. _"I think we're officially boyfriends now!"

"Seriously! Whaaat?! Elaborate!" Scott was intrigued now. Damn his friend for withholding juicy gossip!

"Well, after Isaac and Erica caught us making out on the deck..."

"You got _caught? _My god, you guys are retarded." Scott laughed, loving any opportunity to tease his best friend.

"Shut up. At least our pants were on!" Stiles retorted, referring to the time in high school that Scott and Allison got caught by his mother with their pants halfway off, seconds away from penetration. Needless to say, she wasn't very thrilled and proceeded to lecture _everyone_ on the importance of safe-sex every day for weeks. Stiles didn't know why all of Scott's friends had to endure the lectures, they weren't even present at the scene of the crime!

Then again...Stiles _was_ the one who knocked up Lydia right out of high school. Maybe he could have listened to a few more of Melissa McCall's speeches.

"Don't bring that up." Scott didn't seem amused, although thankfully catching on to Stiles' train of thought without any further explanation.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. Anyways... so we're all watching some kid movie on his couch, and Isaac asked if we were boyfriends...and Derek just kind of said _yes. _I didn't correct him otherwise!" Stiles laughed, not very good at telling stories over the phone. And even though they'd only gone on one _official _date...who the hell cared? Stiles wasn't going to complain, because...have you _seen _how hot Derek is?

"Hell yeah! He's so much better than your last boyfriend." Scott laughed, bringing up a sore subject.

"Ugh, don't remind me." Stiles groaned, trying to push the image of Matt to the back of his mind.

"He was a catch!" Scott laughed, ignoring Stiles' semi-request to cease the discussion of Matt.

"He was a cheap, clingy idiot and had a small penis." Stiles snorted, like penis size was relevant to him being a terrible boyfriend. And just remembering how cheap he was made him want to puke. He basically had to twist his arm just to get him to buy Stiles a coke at McDonald's. He didn't even want to get started on their 'dates.' They may as well have been just friends for all the times they went dutch. If they even went anywhere out of the house at all.

"Yeah well...Allison's got small boobs, size doesn't matter!" Scott chuckled, choking a little on thin air.

"Boob size isn't even on the same spectrum as dick size." Stiles shook his head, even though Scott couldn't see him.

Ugh. Great. Now Stiles couldn't get the image of his ex-boyfriend, Matt, out of his head. It didn't matter that he was a decently attractive person with sparkling blue eyes, that scumbag didn't deserve to be thought of. Thankfully the low life had to move far, far away for work, because if he hadn't then he'd certainly still be trying for Stiles' attention.

Stiles dumped his ass after he caught him snooping around in his room, sniffing his dirty clothes. Well, _maybe_ they were clean clothes. That part was irrelevant. Stiles hadn't been home when Matt entered the house, and obviously Matt hadn't expected to be caught, or else he probably would have come up with a better excuse for being in the house. When Stiles demanded to know why and how Matt got inside, he just said he thought he'd left some _things. _Could he have been any more vague? And even if he had left _things, _did that give him the right to rifle around in Stiles' home without him there? Hell no. Especially not since Stiles had been planning to dump the fool for a week or so anyway. Maybe if Stiles had actually liked the guy he wouldn't have cared as much.

"Dude, are you there?" Scott prodded, trying to pull Stiles out from his own head.

"Oh, yeah. Sorry dude, just thinking." Stiles explained, slightly embarrassed. He had a tendency to do that. To go silent and just think for minutes at a time, totally oblivious to everything else.

"Well, let's forget about that trash and focus on Hale." Scott laughed, completely serious. He didn't really mean to bring Matt up, clearly not in the mood to _actually _talk about him for more than a minute. Which was fine by Stiles!

"I'm headed up to the pool in a bit, he-" Stiles started to say before Scott interrupted him.

"In the daylight?" Scott questioned, sounding flabbergasted. "Dude, when are you going to go skinny dipping?"

"Oh my god, you are ridiculous! Do you know that? We're not _ever _going skinny dipping in the neighborhood pool!" Not that Stiles hadn't actually asked himself the same question. But considering they'd only been dating for the weekend, he figured they weren't really to the stage of nudity in water yet. "If I didn't know any better I'd think _you _wanted to see us naked!"

"You're gross." Scott retorted, sniggering. Stiles could just picture Scott frowning and crossing his arms, disgusted.

"You're the one who keeps bringing up skinny dipping!"

"Have a sense of humor, dude!"

Seriously, Scott? He was telling Stiles to have a sense of humor when he was the one getting grossed out by a joke? On the other hand, Stiles was getting irritated even with the mention of it in jest, he supposed they were equally as bad.

"You are a hypocrite. Anyways! I'm gonna get going, Erica is already at the pool with them and I don't want Derek to think I'm just dumping my kid on him so I can stay home and pick my nose." Stiles explained, only a little exasperated with his best friend.

Stiles got dressed in his best baseball cap to cover up his bedhead and walked down to the pool to meet up with his child and boyfriend. _Boyfriend. _Ha! What a crack up. He hoped Derek didn't regret what he said to Isaac yesterday and would prefer to take things slowly. Well fuck that. They couldn't backtrack. They were boyfriends now and if Derek was having second thoughts then too damn bad.

And...what the hell? Who the heck were all these women? There were _never _this many women at the pool. At least not _attractive _women. Usually they were just flabby, tired moms with magazines and grandmas wearing straw visors they probably purchased in the Bahamas in 1985. But more importantly, who the hell were these women fawning over Derek? Well, really it was just one woman, a busty redhead with a taut little ass falling out of her bikini bottom. She was gorgeous and her smile was too perfect. She even looked _friendly. _But Stiles didn't like the way she was leaning over her chaise lounge revealing her tits and laughing. And that her teeth were white. Like seriously, _nobody _had teeth that white in real life. If you didn't have somewhat yellow teeth you couldn't possibly be a real human. It was just unnatural. But despite all the blatant flirting that lady was doing, it didn't bother him nearly as much as the way Derek reciprocated. He was grinning and laughing like he'd flirted with this woman before and it just came naturally.

He couldn't stall any longer. He noticed Derek had still saved him a seat, which was a good sign but didn't mean anything.

"Hey, Stiles!" Derek turned his attention away from the broad and his eyes lit up, which helped improve his case but still didn't change Stiles' jealousy.

"This is my boyfriend, Stiles." Derek introduced, directed towards the redhead who frowned and flashed an obligatory fake smile.

"Hi, I'm Colleen! I didn't realize your boyfriend was going to be so cute!" She gushed to Derek, plastering on an expression so phoney it looked physically painful. Well, at least Derek had mentioned him.

"Do you live in the neighborhood?" Stiles asked in a sickeningly sweet tone he didn't know he was capable of, which grossed him out, choosing to ignore her comment about him being _cute. _He was already in a pissy mood from his dumb conversation with Scott earlier. Granted with the craptastic morning he had, he was surprised he hadn't snapped yet at all.

"No, I'm from out of town." She didn't elaborate, and if she did...well, Stiles tuned her out.

He suddenly wondered where the kids were? Not that he thought Derek was a flirt and a crummy babysitter or anything, he just didn't see them. Oh wait – there they were. In plain sight. In the pool. Waving to him. Calling his name. With some strange woman!

This woman looked like freaking Jennifer Connelly but with more smile. Derek seemed to sense his distraught and confusion because he called the lady, apparently called Laura, out of the water. She came out all dripping wet, creamy white skin and slimming black one piece bathing suit, and flung her hair over her shoulder like she was modeling for a damn photo shoot.

"Hey!" She beamed, plopping down on the bottom of Stiles' chaise like she owned the place.

"This is my sister, Laura." Derek explained, gesticulating to the beauty.

Oh. OH! He _knew _he'd heard that name somewhere before. Okay, cool. No competition then. Phew. He could wipe the sweat from his brow.

"Hi there!" She smiled, anticipating and waiting for Stiles to give his own name because apparently she wasn't a mind reader. Even though Stiles had a pretty good idea she knew who he was anyway.

"I'm Stiles, pleased to meet you." He had to perk up a bit now. Couldn't let Derek's sister think he was a crabby old fag! Which he _was _today, but that was just because of his crap morning. First he stubbed his toe on the frame of his bed which hurt like a motherfucker. Then he'd burnt his breakfast. And then he'd found out that his dishwasher had broken and would cost eight million dollars to fix. And while none of those were really all that bad individually, one after another over the span of half an hour really just set him over the edge.

"This is my best friend, Colleen, who you've already just met I guess. She's in love with Derek and shamelessly flirts with him at any opportunity." Laura said, reading Stiles' mind about the bitch. Wow, blunt.

"Hey!" Colleen protested, leaning against the back of the chair in a huff, not convincingly fazed by Laura's accusation.

"Well it's true! Can't pretend you haven't loved him since childhood." Laura laughed, re-situating her bathing suit straps for comfort.

"What can I say, that dark and broody thing really gets me!" Colleen laughed, and Stiles started to loosen up his dislike for her a little bit. Derek wasn't that broody! At least not around him.

"You guys are ridiculous." Derek shook his head, clearly hesitant on how to act now.

Stiles had the feeling that Derek couldn't help but flirt back with the girl because she tried so hard and made it difficult not to reciprocate. And also because he'd known her for years. But he had to wonder if he actually _did _have feelings for her. Because she was very pretty. And she probably had a decent personality under that false exterior that she initially showed Stiles. But she was probably just jealous of Stiles because he snagged the hottie while she got nothing. Ha!

That didn't stop Stiles from feeling insecure though.

-00000-

He found out that Laura and her friend had decided to surprise Derek at his new home and just show up unannounced. Which apparently didn't shock Derek at all. However, Derek only had one guest room... Which in reality, was plenty of extra sleeping space. Plus, he had a healthy sized couch. And two women were definitely capable of sleeping together in the same bed platonically, no problem. But it just gave Stiles more excuses to ask Derek over.

"You know, if you want you can stay over at my place tonight. If you need to give up your bed or anything for Laura." Stiles offered, cuddling with Derek on the couch while the ladies took the kids for a car ride to pick up pizzas. He trusted these Hale's. They just had an honest vibe about them. He would have never let Erica go _anywhere_ with his ex, Matt, alone. Talk about creepy. Not that his ex was a pedophile or anything, but not exactly the best with children.

"Hmm...not a bad suggestion." Derek contemplated coyly, trailing his fingers lightly over Stiles' arm. Damn, that felt good.

"I mean, I do have to get up for work in the morning, but not at the crack of dawn or anything." Stiles shrugged, wiggling a little further into Derek's side.

"I'm going to consider the idea." Derek said softly, changing the channel to something a little less...alligator-y.

Okayyy... Not exactly a declination, but not really as enthusiastic an answer as Stiles had hoped for. He did understand that Stiles meant staying in the same bed, right? Maybe this was too fast. Maybe Derek wasn't ready for something so...huge. Because obviously they weren't just going to sleep!

No. Fuck that. Derek was the one talking about sex all the time. Even more than Stiles did.

Perhaps he just didn't want to seem too eager?

Not soon after, Laura and Colleen arrived with the pizzas and tossed them onto the counter. Thank God, Stiles was starving.

"Laura says we can watch The Avengers tonight!" Isaac squealed, shoving a huge bite of garlic bread into his mouth and nearly choking.

"Do we have that movie?" Derek asked, looking at Stiles for help. Like he would know? He clearly hadn't found a chance to study and memorize their movie collection yet.

"I brought it for him." Laura shrugged, like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"Who's your favorite Avenger?" Stiles asked, wiping a glob of pizza sauce off his lip. He caught Derek looking at him hungrily, probably wishing he could have licked that off himself. Too bad.

"Um...I like...The Incredible Hulk. No wait! Iron Man!" Isaac explained, like he was afraid he'd get the answer wrong.

"Yeah, he's cool! His suit let's him fly!" Erica agreed, chomping away at her pepperoni slice. Ugh, what did he tell her about talking with her mouth full?

And the rest of dinner went mostly like that. Easy conversation, with only a little grilling from Laura. But, Stiles figured he must have passed the test because she didn't give him the stink eye from across the table or anything.

"I'm gonna stay at Stiles' tonight. You can have my bed, Laura. The sheets are clean, I did laundry yesterday." Derek explained, looking a little weary of her reaction.

"Yeah, and then you probably sweat in them all night!" Laura laughed easily, clapping her brother on the back. "All right then, thanks. Be safe." She knew what they'd be up to!

"Okay Mom." Derek grunted, the little brother in him showing.

Stiles and Derek didn't stay for the whole movie. They were sober old people tonight, and if they wanted to stay up long enough to get a little frisky then they definitely couldn't watch the entire movie. That thing was like 2 and a half hours long!

"I didn't picture your bedroom looking like this." Derek said flatly, closing the door behind him.

"What did you imagine, a twin bed and bad posters all over the walls?" Stiles chuckled, tossing his shoes into a corner.

"No. Well, maybe a little now that you mention it. But I guess just more...stuff." Derek admitted, sitting awkwardly on the edge of the bed.

"Oh believe me, I have a lot of junk and clutter, its just all in the computer room. I don't spend a lot of time in here." Stiles shrugged, leaning back against a pillow and beckoning Derek to move a little closer to him.

"Mmhmm..." Evidently Derek didn't care much, because apparently it was now kissing time. Which was better for Stiles anyway because he was so _done _talking. And he could really get used to the way Derek's lips felt. Man, they were so...well...thin actually. But he kissed so rough and used his teeth and actually moaned a bit. Stiles was pretty sure he'd never heard anything so hot in his life.

"I hope your sister is okay, with you not being there in the house." And Stiles apparently was_ never _done talking.

Derek grunted and didn't bother responding, shoving his tongue down Stiles' throat.

"I mean, she's not gonna think you're like a terrible host or anything, is she?" Stiles could feel Derek fiddling with the hem of his shirt, trying to lift it over his head.

"She'll be fine. She'd rather I be happy than anything. And really, we're probably doing her a favor so she doesn't have to share the bed with Colleen, who is annoying as hell. Kind of like you." He rolled his eyes, running his hands along Stiles' back.

"Okay." Stiles said finally, choosing not to say anything else for a least...three minutes. He figured he better take Derek's shirt off as well to have something gorgeous to distract him with.

"Damn." Stiles admitted, like he'd never seen Derek shirtless before. Because obviously he had at the pool. Plenty of times. Just never like this. Never when he was actually able to admire and even _touch._

"You've seen me with my shirt off before." Derek clearly just didn't get it. That doofus.

Stiles opted not to dignify that statement with an answer and figured he better just go back to making out. And try not to worry about the massive boner in his pants because he didn't know if they were going to be taking care of those tonight or not.

And then suddenly, when Derek began fumbling with the button of his jeans, Stiles started to get a little nervous. Ugh.

Before he knew it, Stiles' pants were probably flung to the other side of the room in a heap somewhere along with his underwear. Derek had managed to have his mouth around Stiles' dick in 2.5 seconds and holy shit, that felt good. Like probably going to turn out to be the best blow job he'd ever received.

And that's when the insecurities set in to ruin everything.

He couldn't stop thinking about women. Like did Derek actually _want _to do this, or did he feel obligated? Did he even want to be boyfriends or did he just say that last night because he couldn't think of anything else to say to Isaac? Was he really hoping he'd get to share his bed with Colleen but couldn't say otherwise?

He had a gut feeling that none of those were true and Derek really _did _want him as a boyfriend and all that jazz, but he was having one of those dumb, buffoon days and Stiles really couldn't help it. Plus their relationship was so new, and it wasn't like he had the best track record with boyfriends, he didn't know what to think. And Derek was just so _handsome _how could he possibly and actually like a dork like Stiles?

Evidently, Derek sensed something. Had it been happening a long time? Should he have cum by now?

"Does it feel good?" Derek asked, making it totally awkward. Stiles pretended not to notice when he rubbed his jaw a little bit.. Crap.

"Yes absolutely! It's amazing! I'm sorry, I'm almost there." Stiles said quickly, trying to focus.

He wasn't going to think about anything other than the fact that Derek looked completely delectable and holy crap, why had he been _wasting _this moment before? My god, Derek had amazing skills! Thankfully he wasn't lying when he said he was almost there. He bucked his hips a little, nearly ready...

He could get used to this. He wasn't going to ruin it with his dumb brain thoughts ever again.

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_A/n: Hey guys! So I wanted to have this out for you last night but my boyfriend came over and ruined my plan! Couldn't exactly say...'no don't come over, I'm writing gay fanfiction.' HA! But he watches Supernatural and other dork shows with me and even turns it on himself and gets mad when I blab over it, so he's definitely a keeper._

_I've been really sick this last month, in and out of the doctors...it's a long story that doesn't matter right now. It's been cruddy. But the worst part about ALL of this is... I haven't seen ANY of the new Teen Wolf. Except for the first episode of season 3. What the shit!? And I really spend too much time on tumblr. So i'm on there if you're curious. I haven't been posting a lot of teen wolf lately because of spoiliers haha. Url garbageandmusings_

_Love you all!_


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